Marc Chagall was born in Belarus. As a pioneer in modernism, the artist lived and experienced the golden age of modernism in Paris, he successfully synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Fauvism and Symbolism into his own unique artistic approach. Art critic Robert Hughes referred Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century." In retrospect, Marc Chagall left Russia for Paris in 1907. The outbreak of WWI trapped Chagall in Russia but he subsequently returned to France in 1923 but was yet again forced to flee the country during WWII. Finding asylum in the United States, Chagall became involved in set and costume design before returning to France in 1948. Chagall subsequently diversified his artistic oeuvre and worked with medium such as illustration, sculpture, ceramics, stage sets tapestries and the art of stained glass windows. The artist was commissioned to produce numerous large-scale works around the world, among them are the stained glass windows for the synagogue at the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem in 1961 and the All Saint’s Church in Mainz, Germany, the ceiling of the Paris Opera and murals for the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1964. In 1977 Chagall received France’s highest accolade, the Grand Medal of the Legion of Honor. That same year, Marc Chagall became one of the few distinguished artists to receive a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre.