Yehuda Pen art gallery to be recreated in Vitebsk

VITEBSK, 9 July (BelTA) – The art gallery of Yehuda Pen, Marc Chagall’s teacher and mentor, will be recreated in Vitebsk, the deputy chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, Vladimir Terentiev, said at a ceremony to open an one-painting exhibition “Portrait of Marc Chagall by Yehuda Pen” loaned by the National Art Museum of Belarus. The exhibition is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of Marc Chagall. The art gallery will be housed in the building of the former Jewish school in Kalinin Street, a specimen of architecture. Another building in the neighborhood, which is also an architectural and historical value, will be handed over to the Museum of Marc Chagall for the art center. Vladimir Terentiev noted that the Art Museum, the branch of the Vitebsk Regional Museum of History, has 183 paintings and graphic works by Yehuda Pen. For the past 20 years the museum has been working on restoration of Yehuda Pen’s works. So now we can fully appreciate the artist and his art. Yet, the general public has a chance to see only four dozens of his works as there is not enough exhibition space to showcase the whole collection. In this connection, Chairman of Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets instructed to establish the gallery. The gallery will be located in the historical downtown. There is the building which once housed Vitebsk art school created by Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich. One of the workshops in this school was headed by Yehuda Pen. Works on renovation of the building will begin soon. A museum of the famous educational institution will be created afterwards. The art center of Marc Chagall will be moved to the neighborhood, and thus the city will accomplish a project to create the museum compound dedicated to the founders of the avant-garde artistic movement. Yehuda Pen was born on the territory of the present-day Lithuania in 1854. He graduated from St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1891, he moved to Vitebsk where he founded his own art the school. The artist's favorite genre was the composite portrait. A gallery of Yehuda Pen featuring around 800 artworks existed in Vitebsk in 1939-1941. During the Nazi occupation some of the paintings were lost, some were evacuated. After the war, part of the works was returned to Vitebsk, and some made part of the stocks of the National Art Museum of Belarus.

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