Fables

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Fables

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

Author Jean de La Fontaine French, 1621-1695

Publisher Tériade Paris, 1952

Printer Maurice Potin [s.l.], 1927-1930

Printer Raymond Haasen 1952

Date1952

DimensionsSlipcase: H: 16 1/8 in. (410 mm); W: 12 1/2 in. (317 mm); Depth: 1/2 in. (115 mm).
Book: H: 15 5/8 in. (397 mm); W: 12 1/16 in. (307 mm); Depth: 1 15/16 in. (49 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 15 7/16 in. (392 mm); W: 11 7/8 in. (302 mm).

MediumOriginal drawing: watercolor with black ink (vol. 1). Original prints: 102 etchings, some with engraving and/or with drypoint, incl. wrappers. Text: letterpress (typeface: Garamond Italic, 24 pt.). Paper: Rives BFK cream wove (different stocks, slightly different tones, because the text and etchings were printed 22 years apart).

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.342A-B

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Published Referencescf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 52, repr.

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors. From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 79, reprs.

cf. Strachan, W. J. The Artist and the Book in France: the 20th Century livre d'artiste, New York, 1969, p. 327.

cf. Wheeler, Monroe. Modern Painters and Sculptors as Illustrators, New York, 1946, p. 99

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of modern illustrated books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 15.

Toledo Museum of Art, Don't Feed the Books: Birds, Bugs, and Bestiaries Featuring the Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, 2001.

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

Toledo Museum of Art, Monkey Business, July 2 - August 30, 2009.

Label TextTwo volumes with 100 etchings, two etched covers, and this copy with one watercolor inscribed to "W. Bareiss" and signed by the artist. This was originally commissioned by Vollard in 1927, and initially there was some outcry that a foreign artist had been chosen to illustrate such a venerated French text. The publication, delayed for over twenty years, was finally completed by Teriade. Marc Chagall, Fables. Text by Jean de La Fontaine (1952) In 1926, the publisher and art dealer Ambroise Vollard commissioned Marc Chagall to create 100 color images for La Fontaine’s 1668 book of fables. Vollard’s choice of a Russian artist to illustrate these famous French tales was seen as unpatriotic by many Frenchmen. The publisher was forced to explain himself in the newspaper. He pointed out that La Fontaine used many exotic (East Asian) sources for his fables. “Why Chagall?" he concluded. "…Precisely because his aesthetic seems to me very close and in a sense akin to La Fontaine’s, both dense and subtle, realistic and fantastic.” It proved too difficult to transfer Chagall’s colorful gouache drawings to copper plates. After several attempts, the project was abandoned. A second idea, to use a series of black and white etchings was proposed. Chagall completed the plates, but unfortunately this project too was set aside. After his international reputation had been firmly established, Chagall regained custody of the plates he had made for Vollard. A new publisher was found, the Greek-born Tériade. Finally, in 1952, a deluxe edition of Chagall’s Fables was completed. Walter Bareiss wisely purchased one of the first copies and Chagall thanked him by inserting an original, signed watercolor drawing inscribed personally to Bareiss.