Marc Chagall Born Vitebsk (formerly Russian Empire, now Belarus), 1887; died Saint-Paul, France, 1985
About this artwork
Marc Chagall made America Windows to celebrate the US Bicentennial and presented them as a gift to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1977. The windows merge symbols of US history, the Chicago skyline, and the arts; read from left to right, the panels represent music, painting, literature, architecture, theater, and dance.
Best known as a painter, Chagall had been working in stained glass for several decades by the 1970s. He was drawn to the medium as a way to explore intense color on a monumental scale. Working with stained-glass maker Charles Marq, Chagall executed 86 windows across Europe, Israel, and the United States.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Signed, each pair, l.r.: "MArc ChAgAll/Reims/1977"
Dimensions
96 × 385 in. (244 × 978 cm) (overall)
Credit Line
A gift of Marc Chagall, the City of Chicago, and the Auxiliary Board of The Art Institute of Chicago, commemorating the American Bicentennial in memory of Mayor Richard J. Daley
“Art Institute gets Chagall window gift,” Chicago Tribune (July 3, 1976), p. S4, as The America Windows.
Bess Winakor, “Chagall gives us windows for Bicentennial,” Chicago Sun Times (July 3, 1976), p. E3, as The America Windows.
“Stained Glass Windows by Marc Chagall Donated To Art Institute,” Bridgeport News (July 7, 1976), as The America Windows.
Pamela Andriotakis, “In Southern France, the Ancient Artists Jokes of Himself, ‘He’s a Little Crazy, Chagall,’” People Weekly (August 2, 1976), pp. 18-19.
“The America Windows,” Townsfolk (September 1976), as The America Windows.
The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report (1976–77) (ill.), as The America Windows.
Alan G. Artner, “Chagall windows to give vision to a memory,” Chicago Tribune (March 8, 1977), p. A2, as The America Windows.
“Art Museum Receives Gift for American Windows,” Lake Shore News (April 5, 1977), as America Windows.
Avenue M: The Magnificent Mile (May 1977), p. 8, as American Windows.
Eleanor Page, “It’ll rain on Art Institute’s fashion parade on purpose,” Chicago Tribune (May 7, 1977), p. C2.
“Chagall windows open Sunday,” Chicago Sun Times (May 11, 1977), as American Windows.
Bill Freudenheim, “Chagall windows to be unveiled,” Chicago Daily News (May 12, 1977), p. 3 (ill.).
“Chagall’s ‘Music’ for our eyes,” Chicago Tribune (May 12, 1977) (ill.), as American Windows.
Franz Schulze, “Chagall’s windows…color them blue,” Chicago Daily News (May 14–15, 1977) (ill.), as America Windows.
“Chicago Gets Chagall Windows,” New York Times (May 15, 1977), p. 26.
Alan G. Artner, “America and the arts sparkle in ‘Windows’ by Chagall,” Chicago Tribune (May 15, 1977), p. E2 (ill.), as America Windows.
Alan G. Artner, “Chagall’s ‘America Windows,’ open at the Art Institute,” Chicago Tribune (May 15, 1977), p. E16 (ill.), as America Windows.
Harold Haydon, “Love in stained glass,” Chicago Sun Times (May 15, 1977) (ill.), as America Windows.
“Mrs. Daley, Bilandic dedicate ‘Windows’,” Chicago Tribune (May 16, 1977), p. 3 (ill.), as America Windows.
Mike Anderson, “Chagall tribute to Daley unveiled,” Chicago Sun Times (May 15, 1977), p. 1 (ill.), as The America Window.
“Chagall windows dedicated,” Chicago Daily Dews (May 16, 1977), as American Windows.
“Marc Chagall’s Stained Glass Commemorates Mayor Daley’s Birth,” Bridgeport News (May 18, 1977), as The America Windows.
Time (May 23, 1977) (ill.).
Evergreen Gazette 4:21 (May 24, 1977) (ill.), as The America Windows.
“Unveil Chagall work at Art Institute,” Chicago Citizen (May 26, 1977), as The America Windows.
Richard Christiansen,” What’s What this Weekend: At the Galleries,” Chicago Daily News (May 26, 1977), as America Windows.
David Schwartz, “Grand young painter,’ Jewish Herald Voice (June 23, 1977).
“Chagall’s America Windows,” Acquire (July 1977) (ill.), as America Windows.
The Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978), p. 9 (ill.).
“Marc Chagall’s America Windows,” Music Educators Journal 64:5 (January 1978), pp. 73–80 (ill.), as America Windows, 1977.
“Looking at Chagall in Chicago: In the Art Institute, America Windows,” Roselle Record (January 18, 1978) (ill.), as America Windows.
“Art Institute Associates: ‘America Windows’,” Star (May 4, 1978) as America Windows.
Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica, Chagall in Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica, 1979), n.p.
David Elliott, “Chagall’s deli of delights,” Sunday Sun Times (April 22, 1979), p. 7, as America Windows, n.d.
Marc Chagall, exh. cat. (Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 1982), p. 144.
Erne R. Frueh and Florence Frueh, Chicago Stained Glass (Chicago: Loyola Univerrsity Preses, 1983.), p. 142, America Windows.
Marc Chagall: Rétrospective de l’oeuvre peint, exh. cat. (Saint-Paul: Fondation Maeght, 1984), p. 172.
Alan G. Artner, “Artist Marc Chagall, 97; held special fondness for Chicago,” Chicago Tribune (March 29, 1985), p. 1, as The America Windows, n.d.
Susan Compton, Chagall, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1985), p. 47.
François le Targat, Marc Chagall, trans. by Kenneth Lyons (New York: Rizzoli, 1985), p. 29.
Roland Doschka, Marc Chagall zum 100. Geburtstag Gouachen und Aquarelle, exh. cat. (Balingen: Stadthalle Balingen, 1986), p. 19.
Sylvie Forestier, Marc Chagall, l’oeuvre monumental: les vitraux (Paris: XX, 1987).
Chagall Discovered: From Russian and Private Collections (Moscow: Sovietsky Khudozhnik, 1988), p. 45.
Chagall: The Collection Marcus Diener, exh. cat. (The Hague: SDU, 1989), p. 78.
Sylvie Forestier, Viaggio in un Capolavoro di Marc Chagall (Milan: Jaca Book, 1990), p. 74.
Chagall en Nuestro Siglo, exh. cat. (Mexico: Centro Cultural, 1991), p. 471.
Marc Chagall, 1908–1985, exh. cat. (Florence: Artificio, 1992), p. 299.
Marc Chagall: il teatro dei Sogni, exh. cat. (Milano: Mazzotta, 1994), p. 196.
Marc Chagall: Les années méditerranéennes 1949–1985, exh. cat. (Nice: Musée National Message Biblique, Marc Chagall, 1994), p. 183.
Chagall méditerranéen, exh. cat. (Andros, Greece: Fondation Basil et Elise Goulandris, 1994), p. 223.
Marie-Hêlène Dampérat, Sylvie Forestier, and Eric de Chassey, L’ABCdaire de Chagall (Paris: Flammarion, 1995), p. 115.
Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Chagall: A Retrospective (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin, 1995), pp. 15 and 284–285 (ill.), as The America Windows, 1977.
Pierre Schneider, Chagall à travers le siècle (Paris: Flammarion, 1995), p. 173.
Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, trans. by Philippe Jaccottet (Paris: Flammarion, 1995), p. 301.
Sylvie Forestier, Marc Chagall: Opera Monumental le Vetrate, trans. by Marielisa Donvito (Milan: Jaca, 1995), pp. 29, 35–36, and 193–194, cat. nos. 146–149, pls. 173–180.
Sylvie Forestier, Chagall: les vitraux (Paris: Paris-Méditerranée, 1996), 2nd ed. rev. and exp., pp. 35-36, 194, 215-216, 223; 171, 172, 176-180 (ills.).
Marc Chagall: Peintures, Sculptures, Céramiques, exh. cat. (Japan: Musée d’art Mercian, 1996), p. 163.
Chagall e il suo ambiente gli anni russi, exh. cat. (Torino: Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Torino, 1997), p. 131.
Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Marc Chagall 1887–1985 (Kologne: Taschen, 1998), pp. 251–253 and 279 (ill.), as American Windows (Music and Painting, Literature and Architecture, Theater and Dance), 1976–1979.
Gill Polonsky, Chagall (London: Phaidon, 1998), p. 25.
Marc Chagall: Ursprung und Wege, exh. cat. (Munich: Prestel, 1998), p. 230.
Marc Chagall: pinturas alrededor de la serie de París: gouaches y aguadas, esculturas y litografías, exh. cat. (Zaragoza: Ibercaja, 1998), p. 43.
Marc Chagall: maquettes de vitraux, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée national Message Biblique Marc Chagall/Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2000), pp. 52-54, 62-63.
Marc Chagall: Tradiciones judías, exh. cat. (Madrid: Fundación Juan March, 1999), p. 156.
Jean-Michel Foray and Françoise Rossini-Paquet, Musée national Message biblique Marc Chagall, Nice (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000), p. 125.
Musée national Message biblique Marc Chagall, Nice: Catalogue des collections (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001), pp. 291 and 300.
Eloi Leclerc, Chagall, un vitrail pour la Paix (Mame, France: Nouvelles Éditions, 2001), p. 103, as The America Windows, 1977–1978.
Benjamin Harshav, Marc Chagall and his Times: a documentary narrative (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), pp. 952-953.
Marc Chagall, exh. cat. (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2003), p. 57.
Chagall: connu et inconnu, exh. cat. (Paris: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 2003), p. 48.
Marc Chagall: un maestro del novecento, exh. cat. (Florence: Artificio Skira, 2004), p. 203.
The artist; given to the Art Institute, as a commission, by Marc Chagall, the City of Chicago, and the Auxiliary Board of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1977.
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