Les sept péchés capitaux

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Les sept péchés capitaux

Artist Marc Chagall (Russian (active France), 1887-1985)

Publisher Simon Kra, Paris, [1926]

Printer etchings: Louis Fort, Paris, text: R. Coulouma, Argenteuil (H. Barthélemy, director)

Author Various artists

Date[1926]

DimensionsSlipcase: H: 10 3/4 in. (273 mm); W: 8 9/16 in. (217 mm); Depth: 1 15/16 in. (50 mm).
Chemise: H: 10 1/2 in. (267 mm); W: 8 3/8 in. (213 mm); Depth: 1 3/4 in. (44 mm).
Book: H: 10 3/16 in. (258 mm); W: 7 5/8 in. (194 mm); Depth: 1 7/16 in. (37 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 10 in. (254 mm); W: 7 5/8 in. (193 mm).
Sheet (untrimmed): H: 9 13/16 in. (250 mm); W: 7 3/8 in. (187 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 15 etchings and drypoints (incl. 5 with aquatint), plus a suite of 16 etchings in sanguine (incl. 1 extra not used in the book). Text: letterpress in black and green. Paper: Van Gelder cream laid paper.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.341

Not on View

Label TextMarc Chagall, in Paris, was commissioned to provide illustrations for this new, irreverent version of the Seven Deadly Sins with texts by contemporary French authors. Drawing on vivid memories and fantasies of his youth in the provincial Belarusian town of Vitebsk, he represents human foibles and weaknesses with wit and affection. Through his lively line, humorous exaggeration, and defiance of the laws of gravity, space, and time, he acknowledges and embraces our shortcomings as an integral, and even joyous, part of life. Marc Chagall, Les sept péchés capitaux (The Seven Deadly Sins). Texts by various authors (1926) For his etchings illustrating the seven deadly sins, Marc Chagall took a satirical but affectionate look at village life in his native Vitebsk, Belarus. His self-deprecating sense of humor is perfectly highlighted by the frontispiece—a witty self-portrait of the artist at his easel, represented as Envy (traditional enemy of Painting), with the heads of the six other deadly sins piled upon his own. The book was conceived and coordinated by publisher Simon Kra, who was instrumental in disseminating early Surrealist writings (he published André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto in 1924). Each of the Seven Deadly Sins is treated by a different author, selected from among the most important French writers of the day: Pride by Jean Giraudoux, playwright of Intermezzo and The Madwoman of Chaillot; Greed by Paul Morand, student of Giraudoux; Lust by novelist Pierre Mac Orlan; Envy by poet André Salmon; Gluttony by Surrealist writer Max Jacob; Anger by dramatist Jacques de Lacretelle; and Sloth by adventure novelist Joseph Kessel.Published Referencescf. The Frank Crowninshield Collection of Modern French Illustrated Books, New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1943, no. 105

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 42.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 14

Toledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003

Toledo Museum of Art, Satire Show March 17 - June 25 2006

Toledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars, Sept. 5--Dec. 31, 2008.