Festive events dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Marc Chagall will begin in Vitebsk in April

March 23, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Festive events dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Marc Chagall will start in his hometown of Vitebsk in April. The festival's organizing committee has approved a plan of events for the artist's anniversary, which includes about four dozen items, Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya, director of the Marc Chagall Museum, told a BELTA correspondent. Among the many events, undoubtedly, the main ones will be the XXII Chagall Readings and Chagall's birthday itself. The Chagall Readings will be held from June 9 to 10 and will be dedicated to the history of the Vitebsk Art School in 1918-1923, which was opened in the city thanks to the then Commissioner for Arts of the Vitebsk Governorate, Marc Chagall. Art historians and Chagall scholars from Belarus, Russia, Latvia, France, and Germany have already sent in applications to participate in the readings. Chagall's birthday will be celebrated in Vitebsk on July 7 and 8. On the eve, July 6, a one-painting exhibition will open at the Vitebsk Art Museum. It will be a portrait of Chagall by Yehuda Pen, Marc Chagall's first mentor, brought from the collection of the National Art Museum. The main event of the celebrations will be the festival on Pokrovskaya Street on July 7, "Visiting Marc and Bella." Guests can expect theatrical and circus performances, a solemn laying of flowers, an exhibition-sale of exclusive souvenirs, wall painting, and a literary and musical program in the museum courtyard. On this day, "Belpochta" will hold a special postmark cancellation of an envelope and stamp for the 125th anniversary of Marc Chagall. The next day, the plein air event "Vitebsk - City of Artists" will take place at the central venues of the city. The traditions of fine art are not only in Vitebsk's past but are also successfully developing now - annually, faculties of two universities graduate young artists, designers, and fashion designers. Masters of different ages are invited to the plein air: from students of children's art schools to established masters. A kind of preface to the entire celebration program will be part IV of the National Exhibition of Naive Art Insita-2012, which the Vitebsk Regional Methodological Center for Folk Art will hold at the Marc Chagall Art Center in early April. The exhibition will include works by artists in honor of Marc Chagall. Among other festive events are two plein air sessions: an international student one and a plein air by the Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Union of Artists. The anniversary year will conclude with an exhibition at the Vitebsk Art Museum titled "Teacher and Student," which will feature works by Marc Chagall's teacher, Yehuda Pen, and the artist himself. However, which works by Chagall will be shown in Vitebsk is still unknown: negotiations are underway with the museums that own the works. Chagall's 125th anniversary will be celebrated not only in Vitebsk. The Tretyakov Gallery will present an anniversary exhibition, and a scientific conference will be held at the Hermitage. -0-