David (lithograph)

A small king from a big year

David is a small color lithograph that Marc Chagall made in 1973. The standard catalogue of his lithographs, begun by Fernand Mourlot and continued by Charles Sorlier, lists it as number 700. Catalogue entries for the print give an image of roughly 155 by 115 millimeters on a sheet of about 305 by 245 millimeters, so the picture floats in wide margins.

The print was published by the Musees Nationaux in Paris, the French state's museum organization, in an edition of 150 signed and numbered impressions. Impressions that have come to auction carry Chagall's pencil signature at lower right and a number such as 51/150, 76/150 or 137/150. A smaller group of artist's proofs outside the numbered edition is inscribed E.A.

Chagall used the same David image twice that year. A Cannes dealer's archive describes a version printed on the front of the invitation card for the opening of the Musee Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice, catalogued as 700a, alongside the signed and numbered edition catalogued as 700.

Chagall and his printer

Chagall was born in 1887 in Liozna, east of Vitebsk, in what is now Belarus, into a Hasidic family, and his Jewish upbringing ran through his work for the rest of his life. He moved to Paris in 1910, fled to New York in 1941, and returned to France in 1947, settling in Saint-Paul-de-Vence above Nice, where he died in 1985.

His lithographs were made at the Mourlot workshop in Paris with Charles Sorlier, who entered the atelier in 1948 after being deported to Pomerania during World War II and stayed for more than 40 years. Sorlier also worked with Matisse, Picasso and Leger, but his partnership with Chagall was the closest of his career.

Their method was exacting. Chagall drew the composition in black, pulled a few proofs, then added color in watercolor or pastel until he was satisfied. Sorlier ran the color tests, touched up the plates, numbered the agreed impressions by hand and destroyed the excess, and Chagall then signed the numbered sheets. Sorlier's own name appears in the catalogue entries for David as its printer.

Nice, July 7, 1973

In 1966 Chagall and his wife Valentina Brodsky gave the French state the 17 large canvases of his Biblical Message cycle. In 1972 he added a second gift of more than 250 works in total, including the preparatory work, his 1931 Bible gouaches, the 105 Bible etchings with their copperplates, lithographs, sculptures and a ceramic.

The museum built in Nice to hold them was inaugurated on July 7, 1973, Chagall's 86th birthday, with the artist present. Called the Musee national Message Biblique Marc Chagall, it was the first museum in France devoted to a single artist to open during that artist's lifetime. It was renamed the Musee National Marc Chagall in 2008 and opened to the whole of his work.

David belongs to that moment: an Old Testament subject, printed by Chagall's longtime printer, published by the national museums and used on the invitation to the opening. The museum's own collection grew with gifts of lithographs from Sorlier in 1986 and 1988.

Elsewhere, 1973 was a year of upheaval. The Paris Peace Accords ended direct U.S. involvement in Vietnam in January, Picasso died in April, the Watergate tapes came to light in July, and the Yom Kippur War and the OPEC oil embargo that October set off a global energy crisis.

How to identify it

A genuine impression of Mourlot 700 is a color lithograph on wove paper, about 12 by 9 5/8 inches overall, signed in pencil 'Marc Chagall' and numbered out of 150, or inscribed E.A. for an artist's proof. Catalogue descriptions name the Musees Nationaux, Paris, as publisher.

Do not confuse it with the unsigned invitation-card version (Mourlot 700a) or with King David with His Lyre, a different and much larger Chagall lithograph of 1979. That later print, Sorlier catalogue number 935, has an image of about 34 by 27 cm on a 55.5 by 45 cm sheet of Japon paper, in an edition of 50. This page's item record dates its David to 1979, but its reference sale is the 1973 Mourlot 700, so this page follows the 1973 print.

Condition matters on a sheet this age. Auction descriptions mention light toning in the margins and scattered foxing, and some impressions were hinged or tipped to card at the upper corners. Some impressions also carry a dedication; one artist's proof sold in London in 2017 was inscribed 'en bon souvenir Marc Chagall 1978'.

On the market

Because the edition is relatively large and the image small, David is one of the more accessible signed Chagall lithographs. On June 4, 2024, impression 137/150 sold at auction in New Jersey for $3,024 with fees against an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.

Other impressions have sold in Europe and the United States. Impression 51/150 brought $2,250 at auction in Philadelphia on an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000. An artist's proof sold in Bern in June 2022 for a hammer price of CHF 3,500 against an estimate of CHF 3,000. In London in September 2017 a dedicated artist's proof of David sold together with a signed 1969 catalogue frontispiece lithograph for GBP 5,625, a two-print lot rather than a price for David alone.

The numbers

Catalogue number

Mourlot 700 (invitation-card version: 700a)

Edition

150 numbered, plus E.A. proofs

Image

About 155 x 115 mm

Sheet

About 305 x 245 mm

Medium

Color lithograph on wove paper

Timeline

1. 1887

   Marc Chagall is born in Liozna, near Vitebsk.

2. 1910

   Chagall moves to Paris.

3. 1941

   Chagall and his wife Bella flee to New York.

4. 1947

   Chagall returns to France and settles near Nice.

5. 1948

   Charles Sorlier joins Fernand Mourlot's lithography workshop in Paris.

6. 1966

   Chagall and Valentina Brodsky give the 17 Biblical Message canvases to the French state.

7. 1972

   Chagall completes his donation of more than 250 works for the Nice museum.

8. 1973

   Chagall makes the lithograph David, published by the Musees Nationaux in an edition of 150.

9. Jul 7, 1973

   The Musee national Message Biblique Marc Chagall opens in Nice on the artist's 86th birthday; a version of David appears on the opening invitation.

10. 1985

    Chagall dies in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

11. 2008

    The Nice museum is renamed the Musee National Marc Chagall.

12. Sep 19, 2017

    A dedicated artist's proof of David sells in London as part of a two-print lot.

13. Jun 16, 2022

    An artist's proof of David sells in Bern for a hammer price of CHF 3,500.

14. Jun 4, 2024

    Impression 137/150 sells at auction in New Jersey for $3,024 with fees.

The world in 1973

• Jan 27, 1973

  The Paris Peace Accords end direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

• Apr 4, 1973

  The original World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.

• Apr 8, 1973

  Pablo Picasso dies.

• Jul 16, 1973

  Alexander Butterfield tells the Senate Watergate Committee that President Nixon secretly recorded his conversations.

• Oct 6, 1973

  The Yom Kippur War begins.

• Oct 17, 1973

  The OPEC oil embargo triggers the 1973 energy crisis.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, David (lithograph) is number 89 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (87 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Nice museum that occasioned the print was the first monographic museum in France to open during its artist's lifetime.
• The same David image was printed on the invitation card for the museum's opening, a version catalogued separately as Mourlot 700a.
• The printed image is only about 6 by 4 1/2 inches, less than a third of the sheet it sits on.
• Chagall's printer Charles Sorlier destroyed excess proofs by hand so the signed edition stayed at its stated number.
• Sorlier later gave the Nice museum a large collection of Chagall lithographs, in 1986 and 1988.