15:53 Sep 7, 2011 

the meaning here tallies more with the idea of Chagall tapping into popular motifs (that were collective or social) rather than a "mindscape" (relating to the imagination) as suggested in the answer.

06:57 Sep 7, 2011 

My instinct is that your own suggestion of "popular imagery" would work best with the context here.

See, for example, its use as applied to Mikhaïl Larionov's work:
"The intensity of his « anti-cultural » reaction led him as early as 1911 to an anti-academic reaction which he himself denoted as «primitivism ». To Larionov, « primitivism » meant the negation of academic canons of representation, recourse to « free drawing », and the glorification of what had formerly been considered « a-cultural » : Expressionist « ugliness » and popular imagery."
http://www.andrei-nakov.org/en/larionov.html
"Larionov's (1881-1964) search for a new plastic language rejected traditional 19th-century Russian art, turning toward naive art, popular imagery and stylized Russian shopsigns. "
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Mikhail-Larionov-Kovtun-Yevgeny-PA...

and:
"Natalia Gontcharova explores a greater expressivity by drawing on popular tradition, children’s drawings, village scenes, the subjects of popular imagery, for the work titled “Le Parc en Hiver”, created circa 1909. The simplicity of line and color highlight the vigor of primal creativity. "
http://www.tajan.com/en/actualite/T

18:45 Sep 6, 2011 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_(sociology)

Originally a Lacanian term, which is why you see it so often in French. But more and more widely used in English, particularly by social/cultural historians.

The French is not a typo.

16:21 Sep 6, 2011 

It also fits Chagall better, with all his floating dream images

16:20 Sep 6, 2011 

I also find this more likely - I run across the "imaginaire" all the time in art texts, and hate it each time. :-))

16:10 Sep 6, 2011 

I think it's imagerie. Imaginerie appears to exist only as a typo and a business name.

16:03 Sep 6, 2011 

Imagerie populaire: http://tinyurl.com/44w889z

15:57 Sep 6, 2011 

'imaginerie' is not in the dictionary but one can guess thqt 'imaginaire' is the word