I Am Marc Chagall

by Bimba Landmann

"I painted my world, my life, all the things I loved, all the things I dreamed of, all the things I could not say in words. I painted my beloved Russia, my hometown Vitebsk, the Jewish neighborhood where I grew up, the way I saw everything as a child."

During prayers, he would daydream; in school, he was distracted; and at home he worried about what profession he should choose. But when the young Marc Chagall realized he had artistic talent, he translated his unusual way of looking at the world into color and shape.

Chagall grew up, became a painter, and traveled the world, but he never forgot about his hometown of Vitebsk, the place that shaped his character and inspired his art.

This book, loosely based on Chagall's autobiography, gives readers a glimpse into the early life of one of the twentieth century's most significant painters. Landmann's charming three-dimensional mixed media illustrations celebrate the colorful, the whimsical, and the extraordinary aspects of Chagall's life and work.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Nonfiction, Biography, Jewish, Russia, Childrens

34 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knyga vaikams.

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text: 5 stars
Art: 5 stars

Picture book biography of artist Marc Chagall. The first-person POV feels intimate and easily readable despite the amount of words. The curves of the text further reinforce that sense of Chagall's own voice. The text is "loosely inspired" by Chagall's own autobiography and renders a fairly thorough depiction of who he was as a person and an artist.

Mixed media art is reminiscent of Chagall himself, with overtones of Tim Burton. The collages are colorful, textured, and bursting with details of Chagall's life and work. They support the text well and offer much insight into Chagall's personality and art.

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gostei muito de conhecer, ainda que de forma breve, a história de Marc Chagall. As ilustrações deste livro estão muito interessantes!

[sarafem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have misgivings about this book being 5 stars; however, I was so captivated by it that I couldn't debate it. This is a biography of the artist Chagall (obviously). His young life was not so extraordinary, other than his gift for painting, but it was still captivating because it wove a sort of dream-like vision of why he created the fantastical pieces that he did. Once the text passed through his childhood and into his adulthood, I thought it lost some of its magic, which was odd because that was when he got out of his small town and began to see the world.

My main concern with the book was also what drew me in the most. The author of this book is also its illustrator, and she creates breathtaking mixed media collages of Chagall's life that utilize bits and pieces of his work. While I found her work stunning and could hardly focus to read the words on some pages for want to take in every detail of the picture, I thought that the work should really be a medium to introduce young readers more to Chagall's work rather than hers. Particularly as the story starts to detail Chagall's adulthood, she does a better job of utilizing his pieces, but in the beginning I had to really look for something more than just his influence in the depiction.

[Rachael Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderfully illustrated book is a great biography of Marc Chagall, a Russian artist born in 1887 and died in 1985. This story takes us through Marc's life in a first person perspective. The reader is learning all about Marc's life through his own eyes and is able to look at the different places he has been. Growing up in a Jewish Russian neighborhood impacted his art and life greatly. Throughout his very long life, Marc associated himself with many different artistic styles and in this book we see a similar style as his. This illustrations in this book actually look like still pictures taken and uploaded on sheets but are unique in many ways. Using his style of hard shapes and defined colors, we see images of his artwork inside the book's three-dimensional mixed media illustrations. I find this book incredible and extremely informative. This is a great biography book for children in 2nd grade and up.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful text and art. I enjoyed the first person point of view. Favorite quote:

"In Moscow I also taught orphans of war. These children who had seen their world collapse took the colors and created drawings of fantasy and poetry. I was delighted to see that they understood that the world inside us is at times more real than the world outside. "

[Márcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 estrelas

[João Teixeira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro infantil muito bom para dar a conhecer aos mais novos Marc Chagall. A acompanhar os textos, fantásticas obras de expressão plástica variadas qie remetem para o universo artístico de Chagall.

[Crystal M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, just not for me. I see that a lot of work went into the collages/illustrations, but I didn't like the style at all.

[Pamela Mettler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview for kids on the great artist Marc Chagall.

[Vera Godley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically one would think of a picture book being for young children. We think, usually, ages Pk-8 year olds. In the case of the I Am Marc Chagall by Bimba Landmann it is easily a book that can be of interest and educationally effective through older students. Adults can even find it interesting and attractive.

Capturing the essence of Marc Chagall as he grew up Jewish in Russia and his deep seated insights visually and emotionally into what is going on in his world and that of his village, the foundation is laid for the later years of Marc Chagall the Artist. His style was Expressionism and Cubism - both of which are very abstract.

I found this children's picture book biography very interesting to read and can readily recommend it to home schoolers, classroom libraries (especially art collections), school libraries, and public libraries. It is good to learn about artists and how they grew up and what shaped them for their later works.

The author and illustrator, Bimba Landmann, utilizes a mixed collage of materials to illustrate the book rendering a three dimensional effect to the illustrations. They are not Marc Chagall's work, though they essentially capture a Chagall atmosphere.

There is a nice "The Life of Marc Chagall" section at the back of the book listing by year events in his life and his involvement.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishign Co. to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marc Chagall from a young boy through to the time he's a famous artist.

The illustrations are collages.

[GoldenjoyBazyll · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In Moscow I also taught orphans of war. These childrebn who had seen their world collapse took colors and created drawings of fantasy and poetry. I was delighted to see that they understood that the world inside us is at times more real than the world outside."

I loved this quote!!!!!

This children's book is beautifully done! It is based on the early years of the life of Marc Chagall. Thwe mixed media illustrations are wonderful and are something I will go back over again and again.

We have Chagall for children coming to the museum in May and I think this book is a lovely introduction to this painter.

Ok- now to each of you who are reading my review... I charge you with suggesting a craft activity that you would think would best illustrate the work of Chagall.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!!!!

N

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really amazing and enjoyable. I think children, YA's, and adults would all derive some pleasure from reading it. I love the way that Landmann created her scenes out of an assortment of art materials and items from nature (i.e. yarn, fabric, dried flowers, melting candles, corn husks, branches) as well as miniature replications of Chagall's artwork. She used explosions of color for each page's background from bright turquoise to golden yellow to a light plum purple. I also aesthetically enjoyed the curving shapes of the paragraphs of text instead of left and right, up and down "boxes". The only odd aspect of the book was the abrupt way that it ended, without any sense of closure for its reader.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly illustrated. It uses three dimensional mixed media illustrations. There is so much happening on each page that it takes some time to really appreciate it. It is based loosely on the life of Marc Chagall and how he grew up to travel the world but always remained true to his hometown of Vitebsk where his roots began.

[Racy-tay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - as I enjoy reading kids books about artists. At first I was disappointed that Landmann didn't use Chagall's work as illustration but her own art (which admittedly captured the spirit of Chagall) grew on me throughout the book. By the end I was marveling at how intricate and delicately planned her three dimensional illustrations were.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author uses really beautiful text to tell the story of Marc Chagall's life and art. When my 3 year old requested this for a bedtime story tonight, I had to ask him to repeat it multiple times until I figured out that he was not asking for 'the Archibald book, but 'the Marc Chagall book.' Whatever name you want to call him by, it's still a good book!

[Anna Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful NF PB for K-5.
I love to read books about artists in my art appreciation classes that are creatively written. The illustrations and writing pull students into that right-brain world. Ultimately, the children get it, adding so much more to the artist's story than his biography.

[Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it is meant for and can be enjoyed by younger ones, I bought this one for help with sixth grade artist essays. There are very few books on Chagall that younger researchers can understand; this is a big help. I hear one on Rousseau is coming next year...there is definitely a need for that!

[Kaitlyn Horvath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book could be so useful in maybe third grade. it would be a good book for social studies since it talks about all the different places he went and the wars. it also is a good book to show kids that they should follow their dreams and they can do anything they dream of.

[S10_Abby Alley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Marc Chagall's life. The illustrations are three-dimensional, and are to die for! The book would be good for upper elementary.