CHAGALL:  FANTASIES FOR THE STAGE by Carol Kaufman Segal    

            Marc Chagall was a prolific artist who created works in nearly every artistic category.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition that focuses on four of his works in the field of music and dance.  While the presentation stresses its artistic value, it is almost like being behind the scenes of a theater with its sounds and picturesque beauty. 

            LACMA’s CEO Michael Goven said, “In bringing together Chagall‘s well-known paintings and his innovative theatrical designs, Chagall:  Fantasies for the Stage will enhance our understanding of the artist’s expansive body of work.  By engaging both the visual and the performing arts, it also fosters a dialogue that reaches across the discipline of art, music, theater, dance, and even fashion design.”  And this is truly what the exhibition accomplishes.

             Forty-one costumes and nearly one hundred sketches and studies from three ballets and one opera are shown in four separate sections in chronological order.  The first is the ballet Aleko, 1942,         followed by The Firebird, 1945, then Daphnis and Chloe, 1959, and finally Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute, 1967. 

            There is serenity in walking through this unique exhibition as selected music associated with each entity is played at various intervals each hour, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Aleko), Igor Stravinsky (The Firebird),  Maurice Ravel (Daphnis and Chloe), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (The Magic Flute). 

            In addition to Chagall’s stage designs, the exhibition includes a small selection of iconic paintings, many of which are on loan from museums around the world including The Violinist (1920) from LACMA’s permanent collection.

            Chagall:  Fantasies for the Stage will be on view at the Los Angeles Museum of Art through January 7, 2018. The museum is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.  Hours are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 11 AM to 5 PM, Fridays, 11 AM to 8 PM, Saturdays and Sundays, 10 AM to 7 PM, closed Wednesdays.  For further information, call (323) 857-6010.