Soldiers,1912
Gouache on cardboard
38.1 x 31.7 cm
Private collection

Chagall was born July 7, 1887, in Vitsyebsk, Russia. He studied art in Saint Petersburg and after 1910, he studied in Paris. He lived in Saint Petersburg during the First World War, and after the Russian Revolution served as director of the Art Academy in Vitsyebsk for two years. From 1919 to 1922, he served as the director of the Moscow Jewish State Theater.

Chagall was best known for his Surrealistic work. In 1923, he moved to France, where he spent the rest of his life, except for a period of residence in the United States from 1941 to 1948. He died in St. Paul de Vence, France, on March 28, 1985.

The Influences

It has often been stated that Chagall was more influenced by pre-war movements than by the actual First World War itself. And true enough, evident within his paintings, Chagall was able to taste the ugliness of pre-war times. Soldiers, 1912, is one such painting that demonstrates his ability to express the vileness of pre-war times through the harsh faces and atrocious smiles of the soldiers.

"Soon after the war commenced, Chagall would become one of the first artists to define its essential tragedy, and in these pre-war paintings, an incipient alarm is already detectable" (Cork, 20). "Chagall relished an even more satirical approach to military life in several of his pre-war works. Without any enlistment experience of his own, he relied on memories of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-5)" (Cork, 18).

When he returned to Russia, he gave his enthusiastic support to the Revolutionary War. Chagall lived by memories, which were released during times of conflicts. World War I was one of those times when the artist was able to express the retained memories of the Russo-Japanese War.