Marc Chagall - Le Message Biblique - 1972

A superb and important art book published as a companion volume to Marc Chagall’s monumental series Le Message Biblique, created for what would become the Musée National du Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice, established in 1973.

This work presents Chagall’s deeply personal and spiritual reflections on biblical themes, expressed through original lithography and richly colored illustrations. The book is both a major reference for Chagall scholarship and a visually striking collector’s item.

Details
• Artist: Marc Chagall (1887–1985)
• Title: Le Message Biblique
• Publisher: Fernand Mourlot, Paris
• Year: 1972
• Language: French
• Pages: 201 pp.
• Illustrations:
• Original lithograph as frontispiece
• Numerous color and black-and-white illustrations throughout
• Preface: Jean Chatelain, Director of the Musées de France
• Printing:
• Lithography printed on the presses of Mourlot Frères, Paris
• Book printed by Draeger Frères, Montrouge
• Binding: Gilt-lettered cloth, in the original illustrated dust jacket with title band

Content & Significance

This volume accompanies Chagall’s celebrated cycle of biblical paintings and offers insight into his lifelong engagement with Scripture, Jewish tradition, and universal human themes. The imagery ranges from Genesis and Exodus to prophetic visions, rendered in Chagall’s unmistakable poetic and symbolic style.

The book was issued shortly before the opening of the Musée National du Message Biblique Marc Chagall and stands as a key publication connected to that institution and project.

Condition
• Book: very good overall condition
• Binding solid, pages clean
• Dust jacket present, with light wear consistent with age (see images)

Collector’s Note

An essential Chagall reference and an important Mourlot publication, highly desirable for collectors of modern art, illustrated books, Judaica, and 20th-century French art publishing.