Editing Marc Chagall (section)

===United States (1941–1948)===
[[File:Portrait of Marc Chagall, 1941.jpg|thumb|upright|Photo portrait of Chagall in 1941 by [[Carl Van Vechten]]]]
Even before arriving in the United States in 1941, Chagall was awarded the [[Carnegie Prize]] third prize in 1939 for ''"Les Fiancés"''. After being in the US he discovered that he had already achieved "international stature", writes Cogniat, although he felt ill-suited in this new role in a foreign country whose language he could not yet speak. He became a celebrity mostly against his will, feeling lost in the strange surroundings.<ref name=Cogniat/>{{rp|57}}

After a while he began to settle in New York, which was full of writers, painters, and composers who, like himself, had fled from Europe during the Nazi invasions. He lived at 4 [[East 74th Street]].<ref name="nytimes2000">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/16/garden/big-deal-an-old-chagall-haunt-repainted.html |first=Tracie |last=Rozhon |title=BIG DEAL; An Old Chagall Haunt, Repainted |newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 November 2000 |access-date=10 April 2013}}</ref> He spent time visiting galleries and museums, and befriended other artists including [[Piet Mondrian]] and [[André Breton]].<ref name=Teshuva/>{{rp|155}}

Baal-Teshuva writes that Chagall "loved" going to the sections of New York where Jews lived, especially the [[Lower East Side]]. There he felt at home, enjoying the Jewish foods and being able to read the Yiddish press, which became his main source of information since he did not yet speak English.<ref name=Teshuva/>

Contemporary artists did not yet understand or even like Chagall's art. According to Baal-Teshuva, "they had little in common with a folkloristic storyteller of Russo-Jewish extraction with a propensity for mysticism." The Paris School, which was referred to as 'Parisian Surrealism', meant little to them.<ref name=Teshuva/>{{rp|155}} Those attitudes would begin to change, however, when [[Pierre Matisse]], the son of recognized French artist [[Henri Matisse]], became his representative and managed Chagall exhibitions in New York and Chicago in 1941. One of the earliest exhibitions included 21 of his masterpieces from 1910 to 1941.<ref name=Teshuva/> Art critic [[Henry McBride (art critic)|Henry McBride]] wrote about this exhibit for the ''New York Sun'':

{{quote|Chagall is about as gypsy as they come... these pictures do more for his reputation than anything we have previously seen... His colors sparkle with poetry... his work is authentically Russian as a Volga boatman's song...<ref>McBride, Henry. ''New York Sun'', 28 Nov. 1941</ref>}}

====''Aleko'' ballet (1942)====
He was offered a commission by choreographer [[Léonide Massine]] of the [[Ballet Theatre of New York]] to design the sets and costumes for his new ballet, ''Aleko''. This ballet would stage the words of [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s verse narrative ''[[The Gypsies (poem)|The Gypsies]]'' with the music of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]. The ballet was originally planned for a New York debut, but as a cost-saving measure it was moved to Mexico where labor costs were cheaper than in New York. While Chagall had done stage settings before while in Russia, this was his first ballet, and it would give him the opportunity to visit Mexico. While there, he quickly began to appreciate the "primitive ways and colorful art of the Mexicans", notes Cogniat. He found "something very closely related to his own nature", and did all the color detail for the sets while there.<ref name=Cogniat/> Eventually, he created four large backdrops and had Mexican seamstresses sew the ballet costumes.

When the ballet premiered at the [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]] in Mexico City on 8 September 1942 it was considered a "remarkable success".<ref name=Teshuva/> In the audience were other famous mural painters who came to see Chagall's work, including [[Diego Rivera]] and [[José Clemente Orozco]]. According to Baal-Teshuva, when the final bar of music ended, "there was a tumultuous applause and 19 curtain calls, with Chagall himself being called back onto the stage again and again." The production then moved to New York, where it was presented four weeks later at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] and the response was repeated, "again Chagall was the hero of the evening".<ref name=Teshuva/>{{rp|158}} Art critic [[Edwin Denby (poet)|Edwin Denby]] wrote of the opening for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' that Chagall's work:

{{quote|has turned into a dramatized exhibition of giant paintings... It surpasses anything Chagall has done on the easel scale, and it is a breathtaking experience, of a kind one hardly expects in the theatre.<ref>[[Edwin Denby (poet)|Denby, Edwin]]. ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', 6 October 1942</ref>}}

====Coming to grips with World War II====

After Chagall returned to New York in 1943 current events began to interest him more, and this was represented by his art, where he painted subjects including the [[Crucifixion]] and scenes of war. He learned that the Germans had destroyed the town where he was raised, Vitebsk, and became greatly distressed.<ref name=Teshuva/>{{rp|159}} He also learned about the [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref name=Teshuva/> During a speech in February 1944, he described some of his feelings:

{{quote|Meanwhile, the enemy jokes, saying that we are a "stupid nation". He thought that when he started slaughtering the Jews, we would all in our grief suddenly raise the greatest prophetic scream, and would be joined by the Christian humanists. But, after two thousand years of "Christianity" in the world—say whatever you like—but, with few exceptions, their hearts are silent... I see the artists in Christian nations sit still—who has heard them speak up? They are not worried about themselves, and our Jewish life doesn't concern them.<ref name=Harshav/>{{rp|89}}}}

In the same speech he credited Soviet Russia with doing the most to save the Jews:

{{quote|The Jews will always be grateful to it. What other great country has saved a million and a half Jews from Hitler's hands, and shared its last piece of bread? What country abolished antisemitism? What other country devoted at least a piece of land as an autonomous region for Jews who want to live there? All this, and more, weighs heavily on the scales of history.<ref name=Harshav/>{{rp|89}}}}

On 2 September 1944, Bella died suddenly due to a streptococcus infection, which could not be treated at the Mercy General Hospital as they had no penicillin due to  wartime restrictions. As a result, he stopped all work for many months, and when he did resume painting his first pictures were concerned with preserving Bella's memory.<ref name=Cogniat/> Wullschlager writes of the effect on Chagall: "As news poured in through 1945 of the ongoing [[the Holocaust|Holocaust]] at [[Nazi concentration camps]], Bella took her place in Chagall's mind with the millions of Jewish victims." He even considered the possibility that their "exile from Europe had sapped her will to live".<ref name=Wullschlager/>{{rp|419}}

[[File:WithBella.jpg|thumb|With [[Virginia Haggard|Virginia Haggard McNeil]] in 1948]]

After a year of living with his daughter Ida and her husband Michel Gordey, he entered into a romance with [[Virginia Haggard]], daughter of diplomat [[Godfrey Haggard]] and great-niece of the author [[H. Rider Haggard]]; their relationship endured seven years. They had a child together, David McNeil, born 22 June 1946.<ref name=Teshuva/> Haggard recalled her "seven years of plenty" with Chagall in her book, ''My Life with Chagall'' (Robert Hale, 1986).

A few months after the Allies succeeded in liberating Paris from Nazi occupation, with the help of the Allied armies, Chagall published a letter in a Paris weekly, "To the Paris Artists":

{{quote|In recent years I have felt unhappy that I couldn't be with you, my friends. My enemy forced me to take the road of exile. On that tragic road, I lost my wife, the companion of my life, the woman who was my inspiration. I want to say to my friends in France that she joins me in this greeting, she who loved France and French art so faithfully. Her last joy was the liberation of Paris... Now, when Paris is liberated, when the art of France is resurrected, the whole world too will, once and for all, be free of the satanic enemies who wanted to annihilate not just the body but also the soul—the soul, without which there is no life, no artistic creativity.<ref name=Harshav/>{{rp|101}}}}

====Post-war years====
By 1946, his artwork was becoming more widely recognized. The [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York had a large exhibition representing 40 years of his work which gave visitors one of the first complete impressions of the changing nature of his art over the years. The war had ended and he began making plans to return to Paris. According to Cogniat, "He found he was even more deeply attached than before, not only to the atmosphere of Paris, but to the city itself, to its houses and its views."<ref name=Cogniat/> Chagall summed up his years living in the US:

{{quote|I lived here in America during the inhuman war in which humanity deserted itself... I have seen the rhythm of life. I have seen America fighting with Allies... the wealth that she has distributed to bring relief to the people who had to suffer the consequences of the war... I like America and the Americans... people there are frank. It is a young country with the qualities and faults of youth. It is a delight to love people like that... Above all I am impressed by the greatness of this country and the freedom that it gives.<ref name=Teshuva/>{{rp|170}}}}

He went back to France for good during the autumn of 1947, where he attended the opening of the exhibition of his works at the [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]].<ref name=Cogniat/>