Tell Us a Story, Papa Chagall

This is the eighth in the ‘Anholt’s Artists’ picturebook series that introduces young children to the works of great (mostly nineteenth- and twentieth-century) artists. Here, an elderly Marc Chagall, pictured in his studio in the South of France, recounts the story of his life to his two grandchildren in four episodes: his childhood and youth in Russia; his marriage and early career in Paris; his flight from the Nazi occupation of France; and the height of his fame and fortune in New York. As in the previous titles in the series, the artist’s life is told in simple narrative and charming Anholt illustrations. The story is interspersed with reproductions of famous examples of Chagall’s work which the text unobtrusively introduces through the conversation of the children and their grandfather. There is a single page summary of Chagall’s life and work for parents at the end of the book. This is an attractive way of bringing young children to works of art, some of which they may initially find puzzling or even disturbing. The only doubt I have is about possible over-simplification in the text. Here is the description of the Nazi occupation of France: ‘There was a war. Everyone was frightened and everyone was sad. Some bad people came – they hated me and they did not like my paintings.’ Perhaps even young children are due slightly more information, particularly about the Nazis’ hatred for a Jewish artist; and it is likely that Chagall himself would have had more to say to his grandchildren.