Art & Architecture - 69 - Bauman Rare Books Scarce Six-Volume Lithographs Of Chagall, With 28 Original Prints 66. (CHAGALL, Marc) CAIN, Julien and SORLIER, Charles. The Lithographs of Chagall. Monte Carlo, New York, Boston, 1960-86. Six volumes. Folio, original beige cloth, dust jackets, acetates. $11,500. First editions in English of the six-volume catalogue raisonné of Chagall’s lithographs, richly illustrated with 28 original lithographs (including the dust jackets). “Chagall’s emblematic irrationality shook off all outside influences: color governed his compositions, calling up chimerical processions of memory where reality and the imaginary are woven into a single legend, born in Vitebsk and dreamed in Paris” (Dictionary of Modern Art). For Chagall, the medium of lithography did not come easily. Printer Fernand Mourlot ran a lithography press where such greats as Braque, Matisse, Picasso, Miró and Chagall came to have their designs printed and to learn about this still nascent print-making process. “For many long months Chagall came and worked tirelessly, and his dissatisfaction allowed him to have only a few of his first attempts printed” (Sorlier, 45). Volumes I and II contain 24 of the original 28 lithographs published throughout the series; the dust jackets and frontispieces of Volumes III and IV account for the remaining four. (Volume V was published near the end of Chagall’s life, and Volume VI was published posthumously.) All were issued separately over a period of 26 years and are very scarce as a complete set. All volumes published simultaneously in English and French. Volumes I and II also issued in a deluxe signed limited edition of only 100 and 150 copies. Freitag 1914. Cloth of Volume II mildly toned, occasional minor nick or rub to extremities of dust jackets and acetate. A beautiful set in about-fine condition.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=