ABSTRACT
Marc Chagall's status as an "outsider" sheds some light on one of the most elusive aspects of his art: his use of Jewish themes, and thus his standing as a "Jewish artist." As a child of the shtetl of Vitebsk, educated in the local cheder and brought up on the customs of the Hasidim, Chagall was obviously saturated in a mode of experience that was, in its essential feeling if not in specific dogma, irreversible. In May 1914, Chagall traveled from Paris to Berlin to attend the exhibition of his works organized by Herwarth Walden at the Sturm Gallery—an event that marked the painter's debut as an artist of international standing. Upon his return to Paris, Chagall made one alliance that was to stand him in good stead throughout the remainder of his career. He accepted a commission from Ambroise Vollard to execute a series of illustrations for an edition of Gogol's Dead Souls.
