Original 1950 Lithograph “Le Crapaud” From “Contes De Boccace” by Marc Chagall

Original limited-edition “Le Crapaud” (The Toad) after an ink wash painting by Marc Chagall for Verve Number 24 “Contes de Boccace” (Tales of Boccaccio) illustrating the “Tales of the Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio. The verso side has another lithograph as shown. Printed by Draeger Frerés on vélin du Marais paper in a limited edition of 790 for Revue Verve. Print size: 14 x 10.25 inches. A copy of the Colophon pages is included with the print. Mint condition, from our pristine copy of Verve Number 24.

This edition of Verve is somewhat less well known than the two “Bible” editions published several years later. However, Verve Number 24 “Contes de Boccace”, was created by Tériade in close collaboration with Marc Chagall, and has a particular quality and tonal richness that commands attention.

Verve Revue Aristique et Litteraire, was founded in 1937 by Tériade as a showcase for work by the best contemporary artists, poets and writers. Printing by the finest printers, i.e., Draeger Frerés and Atelier Mourlot, the 38 mostly quarterly editions were published in 10 volumes. The last issue was published in 1960.

Tériade is the pen name of Stratis Eleftheriades (1897–1983), a native of Greece who went to Paris in 1915 to study law, but instead became an art critic, patron, and, most significantly, the publisher of Verve.

Draeger Frerés was printing house in Paris which has published some of the masterpieces of French publishing and was one of the pioneers of advertising. The company was founded in 1886 by Charles Draeger under the name of “Draeger & Lesieur.” Upon Charles’ death in 1899, the business was relaunched by his wife of Charles under the name of Draeger Frères. The company reached its peak between the end of World War I and the early 1960s, printing the works of with artists such as Braque, Chagall, Dalí, Magritte and Picasso for various publishers, including Verve.

Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985), was a Russian-French artist. He developed an early interest in art. After studying painting, in 1907 he left Russia for Paris, where he lived in an artist colony. While on a visit home, the outbreak of World War I trapped Chagall in Russia, and did not return to France until 1923. Chagall was forced to flee the country and Nazi persecution during World War II, leaving France in May 1941, when it was almost too late. During his asylum in the United States, Chagall became involved in set and costume design before returning to France in 1948. Ironically, it was these non-easel works that caused his artwork to become more widely recognized. Fusing his own personal, dreamlike imagery with hints of the Fauvism and Cubism, Chagall created a highly recognizable style outside that of any movement. In his later years, he experimented with new art forms and was commissioned to produce numerous large-scale works. Perhaps the most famous of these are the two enormous murals he painted in 1966 for the then new Metropolitan Opera House, entitled “The Triumph of Music” and “The Sources of Music”. The murals are now considered among New York’s most important treasures. They are large enough to be visible from Broadway across the plaza of Lincoln Center. Due to his long, productive life of 98 years, Chagall was the last survivor of the first-generation European modernists, outliving Joan Miró by two years.