Chagall selling exhibition in association with Goldmark Art

We are delighted to announce a restructure that reflects the status of the institution, now named Ben Uri Gallery & Museum Limited, which remains a registered charity; and the formation of our new commercial arm, Ben Uri Enterprises Ltd, whose income is constituted to the museum.

BU Enterprises first commercial venture is a selling exhibition of Chagall lithographs and etchings, from his famous Bible Series, The Fables of La Fontaine series and The Seven Deadly Sins.

This selling show on the lower ground floor complements the fine loan exhibition - Chagall and his Circle from 6th June - 24th July - in the upper gallery.

Please find below a sample selection of the lithographs from The Bible Series that are available for sale and then an introduction to the 3 series.

Creation, lithograph £750

Ahasuerus sends Vashti away, lithograph £750

Jsaiah, lithograph £500

Moses II, lithograph £650

Naomi and her daughters in law, lithograph £750

Paradise I, lithograph £700

The Bible Series

Russian-born painter and designer, Marc Chagall (1887-1985), established a reputation as one of the best-loved artists of the 20th century. His work was dominated by two rich sources of imagery; memories of the Jewish life and folklore of his early years in Russia; and the Bible.

Ever since my earliest youth I have been fascinated by the Bible. I have always believed that it is the greatest source of poetry of all time...The Bible is an echo of nature, and this I have endeavoured to transmit.... In art everything is possible, so long as it is based on love.

The illustrations for the Bible were commissioned in 1930 by Vollard, a Paris art dealer, and started on a trip to Palestine. World War II interrupted the work, which was finally completed in France in the early 1950s. The first lithographs, printed by the great French lithographers Mourlot Frères, were published in 1956. They were met with such high acclaim that Chagall made a further set, which was published in 1960.

Whenever I bent over the lithography stone…it was as though I was touching a talisman. It seemed as though I could pour all my sadness and joys into it.

Chagall has been called one of the greatest religious artists of all time, and these lithographs show why: powerful drawing, intense colours, compassion for the characters, and, most of all, a real sense of spirituality.

The Fables of La Fontaine

Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Russia in 1887. "The Earth that nourished the roots of my art was Vitebsk, but my art needed Paris as much as a tree needs water. I had no other reason for leaving my home."

In Paris Chagall lived in Montparnasse and from 1923, thanks to the association with the great Paris publisher Ambroise Vollard, he produced three major sets of etchings including one hundred illustrations for the fables of La Fontaine.

There was nationalist outcry in the French press, attacking the choice of a Russian artist to illustrate the beloved French fables. Vollard originally wanted Chagall to do colour engravings in the 19th Century manner and the artist executed one hundred preliminary gouaches but the technical difficulties in reproducing them were so great that Chagall abandoned colour and etched one hundred copper plates to be printed in black. He completed them in the three years between 1927 and 1930, the remarkable biting technique is reminiscent of the first golden age of the pure painter etcher. Drypoint is used only very little and aquatint not at all so that the endlessly graduated tone, the painterly chiaroscuro, is achieved almost entirely through varied biting. The etchings retain a mysterious transparentness and in this loose textured medium the fusion of the bodies of man and beast completely serves Chagall's dream fantasies.

The etchings remained unpublished until 1952 when they were issued by Tériade in an edition of two hundred copies only.

The Seven Deadly Sins, a signed set of etchings

Chagall made 15 etchings for the 1926 book Les Sept Péchés Capitaux in which the prints were unsigned. In 1956 the original copper plates were rediscovered and the artist decided to take a few additional pulls. Six of the etchings are shown here.

A certificate of authentication from Eberhard Kornfeld (author of the Chagall catalogue raisonné) stating that these are the only signed copies accompanies each print.