Customer Reviews (4)

One Of Those Books
One may hear this many times about Marc Chagall's autobiography My Life but it truly is pure poetry. Reading this book I found I didn't have to think at all. His words just sank into my head. He writes about his childhood and the difficulties growing up poor while struggling to make it as an artist. Every word seems to throw you directly into his very thoughts and feelings as he describes his memories growing up. It's a book I would not expect to come from a man whose voice is heard mainly through his paintings. While it's a delightful treat for his fans, it is also an excellent and inspirational read for those who intend to pursue their own love for the arts. Pictures of his artwork are printed throughout the book lending to it, a part of Chagall that many people know and love him for. But in this piece of artwork it's his words not his paintings that are absolutely captivating.

A lyric story of the artist's youth
This small autobiography is a poetic inspiring work. It tells of Chagall's childhood in Vitebsk and his first youthful efforts as an artist. And it also contains within it the great love story of Chagall's life with his first wife Bella. Chagall writes with intensity and strength much the way he paints. The difficulty of his early years is somehow transcended by his devotion to his artistic vocation. This is a recommended work for all those who care about the relation of the artist to his life, and of the creator of great beauty to his artistic task.

Evocative Word-Pictures
MY LIFE is unlike any other autobiography I've read.Who would have thought of Chagall as a poet?As a master of word pictures?There is not a dry, boring sentence in the entire book.Instead, Chagall paints verbal pictures of his youth, his family, his struggles to become an artist.It's must reading for anyone who aspires to remain an artist (painter, writer, dancer . . .).Although the book reads very, very quickly, the poignant feelings it evokes cannot end so quickly.I am haunted by Chagall's painful youth-the poverty, the discouragement he received from many quarters.And yet the autobiography is inspirational, because as a writer, I know that one cannot let go of an unshakable faith in one's calling.

Marc Chagall, the poetry of reality.
This book is an autobiography by Marc Chagall himself. Its a wonderful exploration of Chagall's jewish-russian memories of his beloved village Vitebsk and of his first encounters with the avant-garde in the Paris ofthe early 20th century. Its a good example of Chagall's sensitivity and ofhis spirituality. It should be a highly readable book for it is full ofpoetry, phantasy and hope. At the same time, the reader will be able tomeet one the 20th century leading colorists. ... Read more

Book Description
Marc Chagall is one of the 20th century's favorite artists, known and admired for his rich palette, his inventive approach, his accessible subjects, and the deep traditions behind his work. Combining fantasy, spirituality, and nostalgia with a distinctive modern painting style, Chagall's canvases are infused with a joyous, dreamlike simplicity. Even as styles shifted from Cubism to Suprematism to Surrealism, his work remained individual and idiosyncratic-sometimes harming his art world reputation, but never his popular appeal.

Marc Chagall is the first full-scale survey of the artist's work in almost 20 years. The lush color reproductions include some 60 paintings and 80 works on paper. An introductory essay by Jean-Michel Foray contextualizes the Russian-born artist's work, while a heavily illustrated chronology of Chagall's life-put together by his granddaughter and Jakov Bruk-details the many stages of his career. The work is organized into four sections, each with an introduction by Foray, to help make sense of his prodigious oeuvre. The beautifully designed volume accompanies a major retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful introduction
It's hardly a catalogue raisonné, but there's plenty to enjoy here. After about 20 pages of introductory essays, we get another 35 or so that sketch Chagall's life, from his early career until his death in 1985. The next 160 pages, roughly, reprint paintings from many parts of his career. Each page is self-contained, either a good-sized, gorgeous reproduction or a short essay on the painting across the fold.

Printing is impeccable. Colors are saturated and dense, on paper that's coated but glare-free, bright, and opaque. It's all you could look for in an art book.

One might ask more in a book of Chagall's art, though. This focuses on his paintings, omitting his wonderful lithos, including the series for Daphnis And Chloe. And, among the paintings presented, chronological order is sketchy at best. It's not always an improvement when an editor imposes some new order on an artist's work, after the artist's own life has already done so. Well, maybe that's why I found this recent book on the discount table. The artwork has so captivated me that I have not yet paid much attention to the text. The little I've seen looks helpful and interesting, though. I expect that Chagall scholars have better resources, but as a casual viewer interested in this artist's varied body of work, I enjoy this hefty collection of gorgeous reproductions.

-- wiredweird ... Read more

Book Description
I painted my world, my life, all the things I loved, all the things I dreamed of, all the things I could not say in words. I painted my beloved Russia, my hometown Vitebsk, the Jewish neighborhood where I grew up, the way I saw everything as a child.

During prayers he would daydream; in school he was distracted; and at home he worried about what profession he should choose. But when the young Marc Chagall realized he had artistic talent, he translated his unusual way of looking at the world into color and shape.

Chagall grew up, became a painter, and traveled the world, but he never forgot about his hometown of Vitebsk, Belarus, the place that shaped his character and inspired his art.

This book, loosely based on Chagall's autobiography, gives readers a glimpse into the early life of one of the twentieth century's most significant painters. Landmann's charming three-dimensional mixed-media illustrations celebrate the colorful, the whimsical, and the extraordinary aspects of Chagall's life and work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A 2007 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner for Younger Readers
This picture book biography is loosely based on Marc Chagall's autobiography My Life.Beginning with his childhood in a small Russian farming town, Landmann details his early life, his family's observances of the Jewish holidays, his schooling, and the development of his artistic talent, despite being discouraged and unappreciated by his family and teachers.Chagall's experience in art school, his moves to Paris, Germany, and America, his marriage, and his involvement in the Russian Revolution are also included.The detailed, intricate three-dimensional mixed media illustrations are a collage of fabrics, metals, woods, papers, clay, photographs, and objects from nature.They do an incredible job of capturing the places and characters of Chagall's life and will delight readers through multiple readings and viewings.A timeline of Chagall's life is also included making this a wonderfully accessible, highly entertaining, and exceptional introduction to one of the greatest painters in the world.

I AM MARC CHAGALL
Inspired by Chagall's biography, My Life, Landmann has merged the artist's life and the development of his artistic style into this visually dramatic children's book.

The dialogue captures the dream-like quality of the artist's work, and the illustrations recreate and reflect Chagall's art through coloration and medium. Her use of texture demonstrates the feel of Chagall's abstract and surrealistic view of the world.

The text tackles several difficult topics, ranging from self-development, self-identity, the creative process and the ability to verbalize personal desires within a family structure. In a compressed timeframe, Chagall's life is integrated into the historical events of the century. Landmann uses the historical references to establish Chagall's concept that the real world is within each of us.

Judaic elements run through the story. Chagall the boy goes to Hebrew school and studies Torah while searching for his identity. The events of revolution, war, hardship and escape, and their impact on Jews, are woven into the text.

A timeline provides an accurate history of the artist's life and a correlation to his paintings.Recommended for age 8 and up.Reviewed by: Christine Maasdam

I am, I said, to no one there.
Picture book biographies encompass a wide range of styles, talents, and age-groups. What a child gets out of any given biography depends entirely on why they even want a bio in the first place.I'll say right here and now that if you want a picture book biography that is just straight facts about the artist in question, without a drop of whimsy or artistic expression, go nab a copy of Mike Venezia's, "Marc Chagall".He does good report-ready work.If, on the other hand, you'd like something a little more fun and carefree, consider Bimba Landmann's, "I Am Marc Chagall".Artistically faithful to the painter in question, wonderful with its words, and an overall spellbinding introduction to a great man, this is a must-have title.You've never seen anything remotely like it before, and I doubt you'll find anything to compare to it again.

He was born in Vitebsk, a small Russian farming town within a Jewish community.A creative inquisitive kid, Marc Chagall professed a love of art very early in his life.When an art teacher proclaimed that he did have talent, Chagall was delighted.He attended art schools, painted like no one else, and always had his lovely Bella at his side.Then it was off to Paris to make a name for himself, and from then on Chagall's life was a blur.He came back to Russia to teach painting to the children and chafed under political scrutiny.Just in time he and his family sailed for America just as the Second World War broke out in Europe.Says the book, "During the journey I wondered if the silent stars above could already see my future: my life in America; my return to France after the war; the museum of my paintings in Nice; my stained glass in Jerusalem, Chicago, New York; my mosaics... Yes, perhaps the stars could already see my entire life traced out on the earth like a picture by Marc Chagall".

Until now, Italian author/illustrator Bimba Landmann has been content to limit her art primarily to picture book biographies painted in two-dimensions, as in "The Genius of Leonardo" and "A Boy Named Giotto".Now she's burst out of her painterly shell and embraced fully the wacked-out world of multimedia.If the wonderful use of tiny details doesn't get you, the sheer gutsyness of the colors will.Landmann presents Chagall (shown briefly at the beginning in a 1910 photograph) as a purple-haired suit-clad pioneer.From the Hebrew letters hung on a line like items in a wash to the tiny pillowcases, amber suns, and real lit candles, Landmann evokes shetl life with a hearty love.Then it's off to Paris where the sun and sky are a vibrant red-orange and tiny cardboard boxes become art exhibitions.What impressed me the most about Landmann's art was that she wasn't afraid to reproduce Chagall's artworks into teeny tiny paintings.So many biographies for children (especially the picture books) will talk and talk and talk about an artist and never show you a single painting they actually did.But in this book you might see, "I and the Village" held by a tiny Chagall on the streets of Paris then see "The Green Fiddler" on a cart sometime later.Even the settings and the images in Chagall's day-to-day life remain faithful to the artwork found in his paintings.I don't think any artist would dare invoke Chagall at such length, even if they were doing a biography of his life.So this brazen tribute is stunning precisely because it praises him so highly and replicates him so accurately.A second reading and you just sit staring at the pictures, lost for words.

Now Landmann chose to write this book in the first-person, which makes the book rather troublesome.On the title page we see that the text was, "loosely inspired by `My Life' by Marc Chagall".That's fine and all, but that means that even if Landmann is quoting him directly throughout the entire book, she doesn't cite those quotations at the back.So if, "I Am Marc Chagall" says he thought this or wondered that, we have no proof.Is this book a biography or a fictional biography, then?In spite of the lackadaisical citing, I vote "biography".After all, Landmann has cited her ultimate source (though the "loosely based" mention makes me feel kind of woozy).And there's a lovely timeline at the back that does wonders to allay a reviewer's fears.I especially liked the multiple Chagalls that appear at the bottom of the page.They grow up and grow old as the timeline progresses, ending with a white (rather than purple) haired Chagall smiling cheekily at the finish.

In many ways this book reminded me of two other wacky three-dimensional alternative material-illustrated picture books published in 2006. There was Lauren Child's, "The Princess and the Pea" (done in a shadowbox format, much like those found in "Chagall"), and "City Beats" by S. Kelly Rammell.Bimba Landmann hasn't quite reached household name status yet here in the United States, but books like "I Am Marc Chagall" may certainly start to pave her way.One of the finest publications of 2006 and a truly wonderful book to boot.It makes even the sequins in the sky look like beautiful stars above. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good starter
This is a great introductory book for children learning about art.The pictures are large and the analysis of the paintings are not too in-depth for children.I would recommend this for anyone looking for a primer in Chagall's art.

Good source of color reproductions of Chagall's work
This children's book has a nice selection of works by Marc Chagall.The reproductions are large and in color.The accompanying text is lively and creative, providing poetic, artistic and biographical commentary.Children of all ages and adults with interest in art and art by Marc Chagall in particular should enjoy this book.I found it odd that nowhere in the brief biographical data was there any mention of Chagall's Jewish roots. ... Read more

Book Description
Young Marc Chagall defied family tradition by leaving his Russianvillage to pursue his artin Paris and the world beyond. Exploring the magic of Chagall's paintings, the authorshows how Jewish life and folklore influenced his work, filling it with the spirituality thatmade Chagall one of the 20th century's most beloved artists. ... Read more

Book Description
The celebrated artist Marc Chagall began illustrating the Bible in 1931, and it became his lifelong passion. This extraordinary volume includes more than 130 pages of his finest works, paired with three books from the Old Testament. Chagall's illustrations reflect his Jewish heritage and his view of the complex relationship between God and man, presaging many of the subjects and themes in his later work. Originally published in France, the extensively illustrated, chunky, hand-sized book is a delightful combination of the popular artist's evocative style alongside the most familiar stories from the Bible. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Hard to let go of.
I realize that they are postcards, but I don't think I am going to be able to send them to anyone.I love the artwork too much.The colors aren't quite true to the actual pieces, but I am sure it was mass-produced.Other than that, these are beautiful miniatures of the real thing.

Hard to let go of.
I realize that they are postcards, but I don't think I am going to be able to send them to anyone.I lvoe the artwork too much.The colors aren't quite true to the actual pieces, but I am sure it was mass-produced.Other than that, these are beautiful miniatures of the real thing.

A definite good buy...
I bought these cards so that I could have 'tiny works of art' to hang in my cubicle at work.I have people passing by all the time and asking about them.I studied art history in college, so any chance I get to teach someone a bit about art thrills me.Because these cards come in a book of 24, I also have a few cards left over to send.

A good buy! ... Read more

Book Description
Novelist and critic Jonathan Wilson clears away the sentimental mists surrounding an artist whose career spanned two world wars, the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, and the birth of the State of Israel. Marc Chagall’s work addresses these transforming events, but his ambivalence about his role as a Jewish artist adds an intriguing wrinkle to common assumptions about his life. Drawn to sacred subject matter, Chagall remains defiantly secular in outlook; determined to “narrate” the miraculous and tragic events of the Jewish past, he frequently chooses Jesus as a symbol of martyrdom and sacrifice.

Wilson brilliantly demonstrates how Marc Chagall’s life constitutes a grand canvas on which much of twentieth-century Jewish history is vividly portrayed. Chagall left Belorussia for Paris in 1910, at the dawn of modernism, looking back dreamily on the world he abandoned. After his marriage to Bella Rosenfeld in 1915, he moved to Petrograd, but eventually returned to Paris after a stint as a Soviet commissar for art. Fleeing Paris steps ahead of the Nazis, Chagall arrived in New York in 1941. Drawn to Israel, but not enough to live there, Chagall grappled endlessly with both a nostalgic attachment to a vanished past and the magnetic pull of an uninhibited secular present.

Wilson’s portrait of Chagall is altogether more historical, more political, and edgier than conventional wisdom would have us believe–showing us how Chagall is the emblematic Jewish artist of the twentieth century.

Visit nextbook.org/chagall for a virtual museum of Chagall images. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Short Chagall
A nice short study of Marc Chagall's personal life (wives, children, and homes) and of his essential cultural roots including religious inspirations and conflicts. Chagall was fated to live a long life amidst a century of enormous social turmoil and with direct emotional ties to countries in the middle of the storms --- the USSR, France, U.S. and Israel.

Professor Wilson is a fine writer with an eye for the arresting detail. His book is a very good overview of the complex life of a great artist.

(Readers will have to refer to the Internet or art books for the actual paintings referred to in this text---unless happily they have already in person viewed the work of Marc Chagall.)

Marc Chagall
This has made a fascinating artist even more interesting; and you can understand the impact of his life on his technique!

Icon of Modernism
The reader turns the first page of this little book to see the 1929 oil on canvas painting, "Lovers" by Marc Chagall. The painting depicts a man and woman seated and embracing; the woman's head turned inward on the man's breast, while the man, an expression of calm and contentment, peers upward, watching a winged angel flying overhead, across a deep purple sky. The painting has the deep and rich signature colour of all Chagall's work, though lacks the intense emotional suffering and ambivalence that makes up so much of his oeuvre, however this painting evokes a mystical love, a true love which, in my opinion, expresses the relationship between the artist and his beautiful wife, Bella.

As part of the Jewish Encounter project, Marc Chagall by Jonathan Wilson is one contribution devoted to the promotion of Jewish literature, culture, and ideas. (One can find all these contributions here on Amazon.)

It can be observed that most of Chagall's work, according to the author, is an expression of his philosophy, his religious sensibility if you will, in the form of the "literalization of metaphors", deeply grounded in the mystical and symbolic Hasidic world and Yiddish folktales, which include in their writings the "repository of flying animals and miraculous events." (P. 13)

It is impossible to label Chagall's work as "Expressionism", but the representation of an acute imagination, coloured in fantasy, depicting highly charged religious symbols, including in several works, Christs Crucifixion in a variety of contexts. What I love about Chagall is the viewer is drawn into the work by its striking colour and busy subject matter and is compelled to study it, because the meaning of the painting must be discovered as it is not apparent on a superficial viewing.

Wilson does a wonderful job of narrating Chagall's life in terms of the major events that the artist experienced, spanning through the Russian revolution, two world wars, the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. Wilson suggests that in viewing Chagall's paintings against the backdrop of these major historical events will see the artist's work as a response to them, and his personal inner conflict between his "Jewishness" and his focus on Christ's Crucifixion, and also his attempt at secularism in many of his paintings.

My favourite paintings by the artist are his various representations of love that display an ethereal, mystical quality, a sublimeness that to me captures love in their most revealing forms, as Wilson comments,

"Chagall's vision of love, so appealing to the human soul, frequently involves a merging of two faces, or bodies, into one. In this regard he is Platonic, as his figures pursue their other halves in an apparent longing to become whole again. Over and again he paints the myth that Aristophanes recounts in The Symposium." (P.174)

Chagall's life Wilson suggests was an attempt through his art at the reconciliation between two worlds, a genuine effort universalizing or merging opposites, he writes,

"In his paintings, past and present, dream and reality, rabbi and clown, secular and observant, revolutionary and Jew, Jesus and Elijah...all commingle and merge in a world where history and geography but also the laws of physics and nature have been suspended." (P. 210)

Wilson's Marc Chagall is an erudite biography and insightful critical work. Although relatively short in length, manages to capture the artist who is considered along with Picasso and Matisse, one of the icons of Modernism.








... Read more

Book Description
"If I were not a Jew . . . I wouldn't have been an artist, or I would be a different artist altogether." -Marc Chagall, Leaves from My Notebook.Marc Chagall is one of the most popular artists of the 20th century, famous for his poetic, surreal images that represent a topsy-turvy world, combining fantasy and spirituality with a modernist style. This volume serves as a guide to the iconography of Chagall's best-loved work—in which he frequently included Jewish symbolism and folklore, sometimes overtly, sometimes in hidden, quitemeaningful ways—offering insight into Chagall's Jewish roots and succinct interpretations of his major paintings, from his early masterpieces made in Russia and in Paris to his Yiddish art theater paintings. Harshav illuminates Chagall's most famous paintings of the Jewish shtetl, or provincial Russian town, and highlights the recognizable trademarks of his art, such as the "fiddler on the roof." It also interprets in detail Chagall's theater murals and his beautiful stained-glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Although Chagall is not known only as a Jewish artist, his background was the prism through which he saw the world and served as the language of his universally loved art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"If I were not a Jew...I would not have been an artist"
This wonderful and richly illustrated book is an in-depth study of the Jewish roots of Chagall's art. Divided into nine chapters, it explains the cultural context in which Chagall's paintings were created, the outside influences (Leon Bakst, Picasso...), the themes (death, life, wedding, pregnancy...), the early masterpieces of the 1910's and 1920's, the influence of Yiddish culture and the schtetl (the lost Jewish world...), of the theater, in a nutshell what made Chagall one of the greatest artists of the first half of the XXth century (in this respect, one should forget about his later years, the 1960's and 70's, which the book barely studies and when he himself admitted to becoming repetitive if not merely commercial). An indispensable addition to the literature on the artist. ... Read more

Book Description
Presents a biography of Marc Chagall ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mike Venezia - a great way to introduce your kids to art
We own several books in the Mike Venezia series - artists and musicians. I find that Venezia introduces children to the wonderful world of art using a combination of straight forward text, original pictures and funny cartoons. This is also a great complement to a child's arts and crafts program or drawing class. ... Read more

Book Description
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) epitomized the "painter as poet" with work that was steeped in mythology and mysticism, portraying colorful dreams and folktales deeply rooted in his Russian Jewish origins. No 20th-century artist approached him in popularity, and the full range of his work is on display in this richly illustrated Spanish-language entry in the Basic Art series celebrating major artists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The happy painter of images!
His muse was Bella. He celebrated every anniversary of his wedding with apicture in which he and her appeared.

"The inner world is perhaps, more real than the visible world.", affirmed once.

Almost all his work have consisted in love pictures, sinuous fantasies that seemed to disorient the spectator, where birds, quadrupeds and fishes join to a Ode to Joy. His chosen colors acquire vivid tunes of the rainbow; with them variegates details such tress curdled with exotic flowers, a horse that plays a violin, hen' s eggs inside a gold' s nestle, or a cow that jumps on the ceiling of a house.

You will also see, the his famous etched plates to illustrate the Bible as well as his famous pictorial motive on the roof of Paris Opera.


This detailed and splendid biography has everything you request. "The three candles" has always been one of my favorites works of this notable artist.

It' s pleasantly illustrated with abundant information and wonderful reproductions. Go for it without dilation.

The painting made poetry!

The first little detail that called me powerfully my attention was the his birth date: July 7, just twenty seven years after Mahler's birthday. He was a poet, an individualist, and a lonely artist. Absolutely divorced from this almost genetic standpoint to follow the road about the traditional slave art's autarchy, however, he will always maintain the essential roots of his Jewish ancestors. The vanishing perspectives of the most of his works would seem a dreamy pattern, challenging and daring all kind of conventionalism.

"It must no paint pictures with symbols. When an artwork is really authentic, exist by themselves symbolism in it". That sharp reflection is so narrowed linked with a Robert Bresson 'sstatement: "Let the facts lead to the feelings and not vice versa"

Consider his most famous painting: The three candles, where the lovers couple defy not only the gravity 's acceleration, but are by themselves a real breakthrough with the oppressed human beings. The sad harlequin and the tragic red, the couple is just so far from being happy, they weep the invisible presence of the implacable menace. There' s an incisive line in Fassbinder' s Maria Braun in which she says in imperceptibly to her sister: "All the happy persons seem to be some vulgar, when one is unhappy".

Particularly interesting are the mythic cycle between 1975 and 1977 with those admirable motives. Icaro and Orpheus'myth.
Admirably investigative work and abundant in excellent reproductions of the most selective work of this singular painter.

... Read more

Book Description
What color is Paradise? This and other intriguing questions are answered in this delightful look at Chagall's brightly-colored biblical paintings. For Chagall, God was present in all people and all things. In his paintings he therefore mixed together the story of the Bible and the everyday world like the colors in his palette. His great paintings such as the Creation of Man, Paradise and Noah's Ark invite young and old alike to get to know the most beautiful stories of the Book of Genesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful introduction for older children
Marc Chagall's paintings are beautiful and intricate, and this book attempts to deliver both reproductions of his paintings and an abbreviated biography.There are a few photographs scattered throughout as well, mostly of Chagall's family.I would warn readers, however, that even though the book is listed as suitable for children ages 4-8, a 4-year-old is not likely to enjoy this book, except perhaps as a free-form discussion tool.The narrative is too dense (short as it is) to hold such a young child's attention. My daughter, 4, is very bright and social, but she still couldn't look at the book with me in a conventional way.Instead we talked about what we saw in the pictures and how the colors blended together and created a mood, sometimes sad, sometimes happy.The book is worth purchasing for an older child, however, and I would recommend it for children at least age 6 and up.It is rather thin, but is filled with wonderful things. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
GROWING UP IN Russia in the late 1800s, Marc Chagall doesn't know what art is. He doesn't even know what drawing is until one of his
schoolmates shows him how to trace a picture in a magazine. Marc tries it himself, then decides to pull pictures out of his own mind - his Uncle Noah on the roof, giant chickens, flying cows, happy men with fiddles, and women with lambs. Suddenly Marc knows what he wants to do with his life. He wants to be an artist! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A vivid fictionalization.
Eric A. Kimmel's A PICTURE FOR MARC tells of a boy who grows up in a small Russian town in the late 1800s, and who doesn't know what art or drawing is. When he discovers his hidden talent, he decides to make pictures nobody has ever seen before - with unexpected results. The story of artist Marc Chagall's discovery of his talent translates well to a vivid fictionalization. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Chagall: The Lithographs is a vast collection (1,050 individual pieces) dating from 1922 to 1985. The Russian-born artist lived most of his adulthood in France and is well known for his colorful and exuberant depictions of Jewish life. His work often addresses personal themes and intimate visions, such as his marriage and his deeply held faith. He worked in many media, but, "Lithography soon became his favored printing technique. This is certainly due primarily to the one element he had previously always missed in his graphic art: color. Color is employed in Chagall's work with greatly varying intensity, from watercolor-like washes and fragile crayon lines to opaque layers whose effect closely resembles that of his luminescent gouaches." This beautifully produced catalogue raisonné includes descriptions of Chagall's lithographic process, which utilized stone or zinc plates and acid, and interviews with the printers who worked with Chagall to produce these pieces. This is a lovely, colorful book that reproduces many of the best examples of this important artist's favorite works. Book Description
Lavishly produced using impeccable digital color separations and the finest printing, this catalogue raisonne of Chagall's lithographs documents 1050 works, each with complete identifying signature and edition information. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Not for the Collector!
THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN THE COMPLETE LITHOGRAPHIC WORKS OF CHAGALL.

THERE IS NO INDEX.

After your third or fourth search, you will find 2 out of 3 lithographs, and never the one that's really important to you.

The information is cryptic, but very complete when it's there.

You will see the lithographs in better shape than you could possibly hope for, with personal messages to those lucky Sorliers.

I almost returned it -- I even printed out the return label -- but sometimes I found what I needed to know, knowing that I could never find that crucial detail anywhere else. And the print job is way above and beyond. I'm still stunned that it's available for under $100!

Should come with a magnifying glass!
Chagall was such a prolific artist that of course any book that is a complete catalog of anything he did, let alone lithography, would have to have small pictures or require a forklift.Nonetheless, it's a pity that so many of the lithographs in this book are reproduced in a size not much bigger than a postage stamp.

And while I found the text and interviews at the front somewhat interesting, I thought parts of the interviews seemed like name-dropping exercises.The book was originally written in French, I believe, and some of the translation throughout was unevenly done, if at all.

But hey -- it's Chagall!To see page after page of his brilliant works is still a pure joy, even if you suffer eyestrain as a result.And the many page-size reproductions were certainly treats for the eye.And to have a complete collection to look at, well, that almost makes up for the tiny reproductions.

For any Chagall fan!
I never thought that I would own that book one day because of its price. But as a HUGE fan of this artist, I have finally decided to buy it... and I don't regret it! I bought many books on Chagall's painting, and this one isundoubtebly a masterpiece. It is beautifully illustrated andexcellentlydocumented. The interviews at the beginning of the book (for example, theone with Henri Deschamps) are quite interesting, and the global"presentation" of the book is simple but beautiful. The onlything that disappointed me a little is that I was kind of hoping to seemore full-page lithographs. I knew that this was a catalogue raisonnébefore I bought it, but was hoping just the same to see more one-pageillustrations, although the ones that are there (for example, the completepaintings for Daphnis and Chloé) are wonderful. The quality of printing isjust superb and this book is definitely a good buy for any Chagallafficionado. In fact, I would say that this book, completed with"Chagall" by Jacob Baal-Teshuva (Taschen)-- if you could findit!-- would be the best two buys you could do. Trust me! :)

almost perfect
I wish this well illustrated catalogue raisonne included the information for all prints in the editions rather than just the ones belonging to Sorlier.Many of Sorlier's prints are "HC" prints or"Epreuve de collaborateur" prints in which case you may have toseak another source to discover the edition numbers for the specific printyou're researching.Other than that - nicely illustrated (though the illustrations are small, it is not designed as a book to showcase the prints as reproductions) and chronologically arranged.

GREAT!
I have seen many, many Chagall Litographs and books on them and this one is the BEST!It lists every single Litograph ever made by Chagall, it's worth every penny. ... Read more

Book Description