Book: Sharing Chagall, A Memoir by Vivian Jacobson

Book Review by Cos Barnes

When I finished reading Vivian Jacobson’s “Sharing Chagall, A Memoir,” I must admit I suffered pangs of envy. I would’ve liked to have visited all the places Jacobson had been and become acquainted with all the people she had met.

I have known Jacobson for years. I heard her lecture on Chagall at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines many years ago. I heard her at the Country Bookshop when she talked about Elvis and his contribution to the music scene we all enjoy. I have heard her at Weymouth Center and at the Moore County Senior Enrichment Center. I guess you would call me a fan.

And how proud I am of how she has portrayed Chagall, not just as an artist, but as a humanitarian who endured pogroms, anti-Semitism, the Russian Revolution, two world wars and escape from the Nazis. She has written about his personality as well as his talent. She met him when she was 39, and he was 87. She had years of admiration under her belt after seeing his works as a young child at the Art Institute of Chicago and learning to appreciate his perfectionism. his standards, and the aspects at the very core of his being: hope, peace, reconciliation and love. Jacobson depicts the heart of the artist in her explanation of his fascination with the Bible, strongly rooted in the village of his childhood, Vitebsk, Belarus. The Biblical Message Museum was dedicated in 1973 in commemoration of Chagall’s birthday with 17 major paintings of his depicting biblical stories of Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Songs.

Jacobson was on hand when many others were dedicated. Her depiction of the unveiling and presentation of the Job tapestry in the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago is moving as is her introduction to the layman of Chagall’s family and his friends. Read her book. You, too, will envy her association with an artistic icon.