Once again we step into our time machine Grisha for another adventure through the history of Belarus. This just doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. We finally come to a pretty unpleasant stop…thump. . According to Grisha we are in Vitebsk in year 1900. The door opens and full of excitement we look outside.
It appears we landed in front of a cute little wooden house. In fact, all around us we see picturesque wooden houses. We must be in the village? And it appears everything even the churches and the synagogues are made of wood?
A young woman walks towards us, and we ask her who lives in this house. With a frown on her face she tells us that this is the house of the Shagal family. The father Zachar sells fish, the mother Feige-Ite is the owner of a little grocery store and they have nine children...
Marta and I looked at one another... Chagall? As in the famous French artist? Could this really be? Was he born here... in Vitebsk? What was he doing here? I wonder if we’ll bump into him? Is he here now? When we looked back at the woman, she had already gone.
Catching our breath, we walked towards the little house in front of us and peered into the front window. It was getting dark. Suddenly, we noticed the family coming home. Amongst the chaos of such a large family the eldest boy seemed to stand out to us. We watched him walk into a little room where he brought with him a book, a piece of paper and pencil, and began to draw. This must be Marc Chagall!
While the boy started to sketch on his little wooden desk, his mother entered his room. We heard her ask: ‘Moishe, what are you doing? I am drawing mother, the boy replied. I saw one of friends drawing. It was so amazing! I’ve never seen such things. I borrowed a book from my friend and I’ve been trying to copy the paintings. Look!’ The boy opened the drawer of his desk and showed his mother many black and white sketches.
There were sketches of his house and other houses and churches in the village. He’d drawn portraits, pictures of fish his father sold, and many Jewish symbols.
His mother looked surprised and told him: ‘You are very special Moishe. I knew from the moment you were born. I will try to help you achieve everything in this life, but for now, please do your homework and put these useless sketches away’.
The boy looked at her and said, ‘But mom look! I also drew the synagogue. This one I want to give to dad! I’m sure he will like it’. His mother smiled and left him in his room. Immediately, the boy began drawing with such concentration and passion we knew this just had to be Marc Chagall.
This is unbelievable! We are in front of Marc Chagall’s house and just witnessed a master artist’s first paintings! Here in Belarus in the small little village of Vitebsk. All of a sudden it hit us… one of his most famous paintings is of a couple flying over a small village…this village…Vitebsk!!! He must have really loved it here!
It appears we landed in front of a cute little wooden house. In fact, all around us we see picturesque wooden houses. We must be in the village? And it appears everything even the churches and the synagogues are made of wood?
A young woman walks towards us, and we ask her who lives in this house. With a frown on her face she tells us that this is the house of the Shagal family. The father Zachar sells fish, the mother Feige-Ite is the owner of a little grocery store and they have nine children...
Marta and I looked at one another... Chagall? As in the famous French artist? Could this really be? Was he born here... in Vitebsk? What was he doing here? I wonder if we’ll bump into him? Is he here now? When we looked back at the woman, she had already gone.
Catching our breath, we walked towards the little house in front of us and peered into the front window. It was getting dark. Suddenly, we noticed the family coming home. Amongst the chaos of such a large family the eldest boy seemed to stand out to us. We watched him walk into a little room where he brought with him a book, a piece of paper and pencil, and began to draw. This must be Marc Chagall!
While the boy started to sketch on his little wooden desk, his mother entered his room. We heard her ask: ‘Moishe, what are you doing? I am drawing mother, the boy replied. I saw one of friends drawing. It was so amazing! I’ve never seen such things. I borrowed a book from my friend and I’ve been trying to copy the paintings. Look!’ The boy opened the drawer of his desk and showed his mother many black and white sketches.
There were sketches of his house and other houses and churches in the village. He’d drawn portraits, pictures of fish his father sold, and many Jewish symbols.
His mother looked surprised and told him: ‘You are very special Moishe. I knew from the moment you were born. I will try to help you achieve everything in this life, but for now, please do your homework and put these useless sketches away’.
The boy looked at her and said, ‘But mom look! I also drew the synagogue. This one I want to give to dad! I’m sure he will like it’. His mother smiled and left him in his room. Immediately, the boy began drawing with such concentration and passion we knew this just had to be Marc Chagall.
This is unbelievable! We are in front of Marc Chagall’s house and just witnessed a master artist’s first paintings! Here in Belarus in the small little village of Vitebsk. All of a sudden it hit us… one of his most famous paintings is of a couple flying over a small village…this village…Vitebsk!!! He must have really loved it here!
It’s getting late so we head back to Grisha where he fills us in on the rest of Chagall’s life. We had no idea he travelled back and forth between the Soviet Union and Paris for years, and spent 8 year in the US to escape from the war. How he fell in love with a young woman from Vitebsk called Bella Rosenfeld and had a daughter called Ida with her. How he was married to Bella for 35 years but remarried several years after her death a woman named Valentina (Vava) Brodsky. And left behind a huge artistic legacy at the beautiful age of 97..
We are so extremely proud to call Chagall ours. He was born and raised in Vitebsk and we should celebrate and embrace him just like he embraced Vitebsk in many of his paintings!
As Grisha takes off we see Marc Chagall run to the window and watch us fly off into time. Could we be the inspiration for his famous drawing we wonder with a smile?
***Who did little Mark draw on the large canvas up on the easel you ask? Why that is Dzmitry Sevkovich, a huge supporter of our project and our CF campaign! Thank you Dzmitry! ^_^
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
We are so extremely proud to call Chagall ours. He was born and raised in Vitebsk and we should celebrate and embrace him just like he embraced Vitebsk in many of his paintings!
As Grisha takes off we see Marc Chagall run to the window and watch us fly off into time. Could we be the inspiration for his famous drawing we wonder with a smile?
***Who did little Mark draw on the large canvas up on the easel you ask? Why that is Dzmitry Sevkovich, a huge supporter of our project and our CF campaign! Thank you Dzmitry! ^_^
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
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