Thirty two years since Marc Chagall's passing… I observed denigration and belittlement of this artist by Soviet officials, which continued even in early post-Soviet times. Based on two prejudices – against his Modernism (meaning non-Socialist-Realism) and Jewishness – this behavior toward him was more apparent in Vitebsk, Belarus, his birthplace, than Moscow, Russia. Some changes have been allowed by the Belarusian government – there is a Chagall Museum in Vitebsk today – but until that government becomes representative, democratic and the country it governs – free, the artist will not be duly recognized where he always yearned for recognition.

Dmitry Borshch