In his new book, Marc Chagall, Jonathan Wilson traces the painter’s life from his impoverished youth in Belarus to the art schools of St. Petersburg to galleries of Paris and New York. Detailing Chagall’s use of Yiddish idioms, his obsession with Jesus, and his bold experiments with color and form, Wilson challeges the conventional notion of Chagall’s work as sugary or nostalgic. He also shows how Chagall’s work represented a last flowering of Yiddish culture in Europe. Wilson is a novelist, short story writer, and critic. His books include A Palestine Affair and An Ambulance Is on the Way.

Recorded Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at The Woman’s Club of Evanston.