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Jesus's "Pale Face": The Haunting of Marc Chagall
Jonathan Wilson in conversation with Robin Cembalest
APRIL 29, 2007


From an early age the great Jewish painter Marc Chagall was exposed to images of Jesus via iconic representations in his home town of Vitebsk. Jesus's face, and the poetry and prophecy that Chagall associated with it, came to haunt him; he even made a visit to the Lubavitche rabbi, Shalom Dov Ber Schneerson, to discuss his obsession. The obsession was lifelong—during the Holocaust Chagall painted more than a dozen crucifixion scenes. "Christ is a great poet," he once said, "the teaching of whose poetry has been forgotten by the modern world." Fans of Fiddler on the Roof may be surprised to learn this. Was Chagall a Jew for Jesus? Yes and no.

JONATHAN WILSON is the author of The Hiding Room, A Palestine Affair, Schoom and An Ambulance is on the Way; two critical studies of the fiction of Saul Bellow; and the biography Marc Chagall. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Best American Short Stories, among other publications. Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Tufts University.

ROBIN CEMBALEST is the executive editor of ARTnews and author of the column "Painting the Town" on Nextbook.org.