The French-Russian artist, Marc Chagall, attached great importance to lithography for it was a print medium that allowed him to work with color - which he viewed as his real metier. It offered him almost unlimited painterly freedom, since lithography is the only technique where the artist can work directly on the printing plate - the lithostone - and the resulting print can convey the most spontaneous of brushstrokes and drawn lines. As a 20th century painter whose work is imbued with poetry and mythology, Chagall combined the Jewish-religious world of his childhood with the traditions of Russian folk-art, at the same time intertwining these with legends and fables, with ancient myths and biblical themes - seducing his viewers into a world of lovers, musicians and artists. This lavishly produced volume, illustrated in color throughout, presents all of Marc Chagall's lithographs plus detailed commentaries - 1050 in total - giving the reader an insight into the extraordinary richness of his lithographic oeuvre with its strong, glowing colors and images. (German edition available ISBN 3-7757-761-1) The editor: Ulrike Gauss, born 1941 in Tübingen. Read art history, history and historical studies at the University of Tübingen. Since 1968 she has been involved in museum work. Since 1990 she has been the Director of the Graphische Sammlung der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. She has numerous publications to her name, including works on Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Willi Baumeister.