It was then titled “Birthday,” after the 1915 Chagall painting of the same name, also known as “Anniversary.” Jamieson played Marc Chagall, and Rice was Bella Chagall.

Schocken Books, 256 pages, $19.95. What are we supposed to do with Marc Chagall? Picasso admired him as a colorist, but, on the whole, Chagall is not remembered for his painterly technique.

Marc Chagall may be best known for his romantic, fantastical and childlike images, but his subjects also encompassed war, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the Apocalypse, the Holocaust and the ...

Chagall: A Biography Jackie Wullschlager. Alfred A. Knopf, $40 (582pp) ISBN 978-0-375-41455-8 ...