Marc Chagall, the world renowned French Jewish artist, is the winner of the Wolf Foundation Arts Award for 1981, the Ministry of Education and Culture announced here. The award is considered the Israeli equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
President Yitzhak Navon will attend the award ceremony March 23, at which time Wolf Foundation Awards will also be presented to 11 scientists from around the world. Each of the awards is $50,000. This will be the first time a Wolf Award will be presented for achievement in the world of art. It was previously limited to scientific achievements.
Chagall, 94, will receive the award for being “the greatest, the most original, among the pioneers of modern painting living among us” as well as for being “a man of poetic vision and humanity,” according to an announcement by the awards committee. “His shiny colors and the human warmth in his paintings have a deep universal and personal significance.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
