I am delighted to announce a brand-new acquisition (though one we have been hoping for over the past nearly 40 years). Marc Chagall, The Cavern of the Nymphs (M. 321). Original color lithograph, 1961. 250 unsigned impressions on Arches paper for the deluxe portfolio, Daphnis and Chloe (there were also XX portfolios HC  numbered from I to XX). Each of the portfolios was signed, but not the individual sheets. In addition to the portfolios, there were also 60 signed and numbered impressions with wide margins of each of the 40 original color lithographs in the suite, 26 of which had images that were about 320x460mm and 16 were double pages with a centerfold whose images measured about 420x640mm (of which ours is one). Chagall's lithographs illustrating the story of Daphnis and Chloe (as told in Longus' 2nd-century Greek romance of the same title) are among his most famous and most desired lithographs. The lithographs were printed in Paris by Fernand Mourlot and the portfolios were published by Tériade Éditeur. The introduction to the section devoted to Daphnis and Chloe in volume II of the catalogue raisonné of Chagall's lithographs describes the portfolio as "the most important graphic work realized by Marc Chagall to this day" (published in 1963). 124 works from Daphnis and Chloe have been sold at auction since May 1992 (or about 6 per year), of which only two were The Cavern of the Nymph (M. 321). Both of those were from the edition of 60 signed and numbered impressions. One sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2007); the other sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2006). By  comparison, another double page image, The Temple and History of Bacchus sold three times: a signed and numbered impression sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2012); an unsigned artist proof sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2007), and another signed and numbered impression sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2006). A slightly better comparison may be in the sales of 2 impressions of Hymen, the god of marriage, one of which sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2006) while an unsigned impression sold for Please call or email for current pricing information (in 2007), or about 24% of the signed impression. Using that ratio,  our unsigned impression might realize about Please call or email for current pricing information at auction. A very good impression of one of the most beautiful original lithographs in the whole Daphnis and Chloe suite. Image size: 417x633mm. Price: SOLD.

Given the 20% - 28% commissions that auction houses charge, this is below auction price!

Sur la terre des dieux / On the gods' earth II: Cupid and Psyche (M. 530). Original color lithograph, 1967. 120 unsigned impressions published in the deluxe artist's book of the same title containing 12 original color lithographs. Of those 120 portfolios, 20 reserved for the artist were on Japon numbered I/XX to XX/XX, 75 were on Arches (as ours) numbered from 1 to 75, and the remaining 25 also on Arches, were also reserved for the artist. Sur la terre des dieux was published in Paris by A. C. Mazo and printed at Atelier Mourlot by Chagall and Charles Sorlier. This work served as the conclusion to the brief text by Robert Marteau (which was folded under for framing). The full size of the page is 650x500mm. Image size: 320x390mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Le Ballet: Daphnis et Chloe (M. 581). Original color lithograph, 1969. 10,000 unsigned impressions for Marc Chagall : Le Ballet. One of Chagall's more joyful explorations of the theme of Daphnis and Chloe, the innocent young lovers whose adventures Chagall repeatedly rehearses. Image size: 325x258mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Man, Woman, and Angel (Cramer 99). Original color etching for a deluxe artist's book with text by the surrealist poet Louis Aragon with 25 original color etchings by Chagall. Celui qui dit les choses sans rien dire / Those who say things without saying anything was published in 1975 by Maeght Edituer (Chagall's dealer since 1950) in an edition of 225 on Rives paper watermarked ME. The editioned consisted of 25 copies numbered from 1/25 to 25/25 which contained a suite of the etchings on Japon paper signed and numbered by Chagall, 180 copies numbered from 26 to 205, and 20 HC copies reserved for the author and the collaborators numbered I to XX. Except for the 25 suites on Japon, none of the etchings was individually signed. Image size: 480x386mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Song of Songs (Sorlier p. 142). Color lithograph by Charles Sorlier based upon the left hand section of one of the preliminary models for The Song of Songs III in the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice. Executed by Chagall's Master-Printer Charles Sorlier with Chagall's permission and under his supervision under in 1975. Printed at Mourlot, Paris and publshed by the Society of Friends of the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice to publicize the Museum in Japan. 8500 impressions on poster paper measuring 760x510mm (c. 30x20 inches) plus several proofs on Arches Vellum for Sorlier. There were also several impressions signed by Sorlier for Chagall and 200 numbered impressions without text printed on Arches paper. The entire poster is present but part of the text was covered by the mat when it was photographed. A very rich impression with no flaws. Although this is a large edition, most to the impressions were sold in Japan and it is not often seen in the US. Image size: 515x430mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Paysage au coq / Landscape with rooster (M. 208). Original color lithograph, 1958. 100 signed & numbered proofs plus c. 2000 unsigned proofs as published in the deluxe art review, Derrière le Miroir in 1958 (of which ours is one). One of Chagall's most important lithographs, it depicts a marriage scene and its aftermath. In the top center, we see a bride in wedding dress, her veil lifted off her face, standing under the traditional wedding canopy; in the foreground, we see the celebration of the wedding, the coq, a bouquet of flowers in his tail, has planted himself "right in the middest" of the Paradisal garden of his spouse's body. Illustrated Nice 1987. Image size: 380x560mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Bay (M. 356). Original color lithograph, 1962. 75 signed & numbered impressions + c. 2000 unsigned impressions (of which ours is one) as published in the deluxe art review, Derrière le Miroir in 1962. One of Chagall's most beautiful presentations of the power of love to lift lovers out of the world ruled by Leviathan. Illustrated in the 1988 Moscow Chagall Exhibition. Image size: 380x560mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The trap (M. 355). Original color lithograph, 1962. 75 signed & numbered impressions + c. 2000 unsigned impressions (of which ours is one) as published in the deluxe art review, Derrière le Miroir in 1962. Illustrated in the 1988 Moscow Chagall Exhibition. The image shows the artist between his two selves, the bird that would lift him off the earth and the goatish self that wants to keep him firmly rooted to the world and its pleasures. Image size: 370x270mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The village by night (D.L.M. 250, n. 27-28). Original color lithograph, 1950. c. 1000 impressions signed in the stone. This is one of the first two color lithographs that Chagall drew directly on the stone. Included in the 1982 catalogue raisonee of Derriere le Miroir and mentioned as one of Chagall’s first two solo efforts at color lithography in a 1977 memoir by Aimee Maeght, Chagall’s dealer from 1950 on and the one who sent him to Mourlot’s lithography workshop to learn how to do all of the color stones for his lithographs, thereby starting a collaborative relationship with Charles Sorlier, master-printer at Mourlot, with whom he would work until his death in 1986. No separate signed & numbered edition exists. Image size: 256x196mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Dance (Meyer, p. 513). Color lithograph after a painting, 1950-51. Circa 1200 unsigned impressions for a special number of Derriere le Miroir. Comparing this with the reproduction of the painting of the same title printed in Meyer's catalogue raisonne of Chagall's paintings, one notices changes in the upper left that no chromiste would make on his own, suggesting that Chagall himself intervened during the production of the work for an exhibition in which he participated at Galerie Maeght in 1951. Produced with Chagall's approval and under his supervision. Image size: 380x280mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Lovers for Berggruen (The offering) (M. 435i/ii). Original color lithograph, 1965. Circa 1500 unsigned impressions. There are also 75 signed & numbered impressions with large margins of the second state (which includes additional drawing in the margin). Image size: 220x115mm. Price: SOLD.

Nuit d'été / Summer Night (M. 696). Original color lithograph, 1973. 50 signed and numbered impressions on Arches (of which ours is 24/50) plus 12 impressions of only the black stone on Japon Imperial. Image size: 555x375mm on Arches paper measuring 685x500mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Chagall frequently chose his subjects from literary texts including Gogol's Dead Souls, The Fables of La Fontaine, The Bible, The Arabian Nights, Daphnis and Chloe, and The Odyssey. In 1976, he did a series of 50 black-and-white lithographs on Sheakespeare's The Tempest. In view of this interest in literary texts, I would like to suggest that this is not simply any summer night, but a depiction of Titania, the Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, being wooed by Nick Bottom the Weaver after his transformation by Puck into a "translated" version of himself, with the ass-head making immediately clear that Bottom is an ass whatever the visible form his head takes on.

PS The colors above are far more accurate than the ones in volume 5 of the catalogue raisonné of Chagall's lithographs, where the woman's pink hair is shown as bright red and the cock flying upper left is outlined in bright orange, a color also prominent in the reproduction of the bush lower left.

Romeo and Juliet (Sorlier p. 96). Color lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's preliminary model for the Paris Opera House ceiling, 1964. 200 impressions on Arches paper without poster text signed and numbered by Chagall plus 5000 impressions with text commissioned by the Office of French Tourism. Chagall supervised the production of this work; one of the signed impressions sold at auction in 2006 for Please call or email for current pricing information. Image size: 650x1010mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information (frame not included).

The Yellow Background (M. 602, Sorlier p. 56). Original color lithograph, 1969. 100 impressions on arches before poster text signed in the stone plus 3000 impressions with text for an exhibition of Chagall's works at Galerie Maeght, Paris. The 100 avant-la- lettre impressions on Arches vellum are a much more mustardy yellow; the 3000 impressions with text are printed on a much lighter paper and the color is more of a canary yellow so that the two are instantly distnguishable. Image size:750x555mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Regular edition with poster text: Please call or email for current pricing information.

The Green Bird (M. 354, Sorlier p. 40). Original color lithograph, 1962. 90 signed & numbered impressions + 1500 unsigned impressions Sorlier warns about forgeries of this work; we purchased our unsigned impression direcetly from Galerie Maeght, Chagall's long-time dealer and the publisher of this poster. Image size:650x500mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

With a complimentary signature (as pictured): SOLD.

German Expressionism: Portraits / Lovers / Society

"Käthe Kollwitz and German Expressionism" featured over fifty works by Käthe Kollwitz plus additional works by Josef Albers,
Ernst Barlach, Rudolf Bauer, Max Beckmann, Peter Behrens, Heinrich Campendonck, Marc Chagall, Lovis Corinth,
Otto Dix, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmuller, Hans Fronius, Alfons Graber, Otto Greiner, Georg Grosz, Erich Heckel,
Hannah Hoch, Karl Hofer,Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Ludwig Meidner,
Edvard Munch, Gabrielle Munter, Heinrich Nauen, Emile Nolde, Max Pechstein, Hilla von Rebay, Georges Rouault,
Rudolf Schlichter, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Siegfried Schott, Georg Tappert, Wilhelm Wagner, and others.

German Expressionist Drawings

The Russians: Chagall, Sonia Delaunay, Goncharova, Larionov, and Malevich

Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.

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