1974 BULLETIN OF THE CHAGALL MUSEUM, INSCRIBED BY CHAGALL TO A FRIEND AND MUSEUM BENEFACTOR

(CHAGALL, Marc). Les Amis du Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall. Nice,1974. Quarto, original stiff blue paper wrappers. $1500.

Limited first edition, number 17 of 500 copies produced for benefactors, of the annual bulletin for 1974 of the Marc Chagall Museum in Nice, inscribed by Chagall on the title page to a friend and fellow Russian Jewish emigré, "1975 Pour M. J. Liverant en Souneur. Marc Chagall." With a laid-in notecard inscribed by Chagall as president of the Museum, "pour Monsieur Liverant, membre d'honneur."

The Musée Marc Chagall in Nice, established in 1973 is also known as the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall because of its initial focus on Chagall's biblical paintings (Chagall donated a series of 17 of them to the museum). Over the years further acquisitions have transformed the Museum into one of the largest collections of Chagall works in the world. Inscribed to Joseph Liverant, a fellow Russian Jewish emigré and close friend of Chagall. Liverant and Chagall both fled Europe in World War II, Liverant to Canada and Chagall to the United States. After the war, both acquired residences in Provence, where shared social circles, similar ages, and a mutual love of Yiddish combined to forge a lasting bond of friendship between the two. Liverant is listed in the bulletin, both as a benefactor and as "membre d'honneur de l'association" (a distinction also shared by the writer André Malraux and the printer Fernand Mourlot).

Fine condition.