Value of My Chagall Print?

JS inherited a Chagall print from her great aunt, an art aficionado, who traveled Europe with her Ambassador husband. The original name for this piece is Cite des Arts et des Fleurs, subtitled Fetes de Paques, 1954, or Venice, City of Arts and Flowers, an event during Easter. It appears quite large, at the site size (what you see inside the frame) of 26 x 21 inches.

I found three separate version of the image, all original lithographs. Another version I found is a modern offset lithograph, NOT contemporaneous with the original date of 1954, virtually JUST a poster.

Size Matters

The first of this image bears a printed title of the Paris Festival of Venice in Spring, and looks like a poster done for a celebratory opening. This image is signed ‘in the plate’ NOT the artist’s signature by hand, for example in pencil. The lithographic plate CONTAINS Chagall’s signature. This print used as an advertising poster in 1954 is in its entirety 28 by 20 inches. So that rules out the POSTER form of this image, as JS’ is 26 by 21, measuring only what we see UNFRAMED.

Chagall designed lithographs for gallery openings and cities commissioned him to create festival posters. We see other sizes and prototypes of an image, as the artist limited his SIZES struck to certain ‘edition’ sizes (numbers of prints MADE in a certain size). The PRINTED lithograph discussed above consisted of an edition size of 200.

Another size, created at 20 by 15 and a half, does NOT have printed letters BUT appears smaller and hand signed. Perhaps dignitaries received these on the opening of the Venice Festival, and Chagall produced only 75. These are more valuable because the edition is smaller, and they are artist signed.

Another size, 25 by 20, he created without print, the classic term for this is “before letters,” in 1954. He only produced 23 in that size (23=edition size). That lithograph of that edition is more valuable, especially signed. The comparable last sale of this size in 2004 went for $6,500 in Germany. That one hand signed, and JS’ is NOT hand signed.

Value of this Chagall Print

We now have a rough idea of the value of the Chagall, a little LESS than $6.500. But we must take inflation into consideration, as NOTHING like JS’s sold since 2004. Rarity always becomes an issue with works on paper, so your Chagall might be worth MORE in 2020. I suggest it might be worth around $8,000-10,000. Today, during the Pandemic, the art market became HOT for multiples, prints, including lithographs, because people can do the research ONLINE.

If more than ONE of a work of art exists, say 75 extant (edition size) and you see the image online, it is relatively easy to see originality. You must of course take the quality of the paper into consideration. Ask the auction house. For example, if you see a print offered for sale, and it says number two out of 10 made, and you find the other nine of the size, condition, age, and quality of yours, you have a good bet that you are buying an original. This is NOT so with unique works like an oil painting. You never know if you bought an original, because NONE like YOURS exist.

Chagall’s Story

Chagall became one of my favorite artists because of his life story. Picasso said of him ”When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color IS.” On a study trip, while creating illustrations for the Old Testament, Chagall traveled to Palestine and became fascinated by the story of the Jews. He studied religious art by Rembrandt and El Greco in the great museums of Europe. Living in France in 1940, and creating his illustrations for the Bible, Chagall witnessed (with fear) the rise of the Third Reich. Alfred Barr of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, somehow procured a forged visa for Chagall and took him out of Europe. Therefore, when Chagall created this lithograph, he’d experienced a life- change.

Another way to check the back story of this print is to find the Catalogue Raisonne for Chagall. The classification is Sorlier 26, Mourlot 92. Catalogue Raisonne are found in Art Museum libraries and will tell you the location of EACH known lithograph.