The publication of Marc Chagall's etchings for "Dead Souls" is a historic event for the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk

October 21, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The publication of the complete set of Marc Chagall's etchings for Nikolai Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" in cooperation with the Minsk Printing Factory of Goznak is a historic milestone in the life of the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk. This is how the museum director Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya assessed the publishing project today at a presentation in Vitebsk of Marc Chagall's illustrations for N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls," a BELTA correspondent reports. This souvenir edition is a set of 96 postcards, on the back of which are quotes from the immortal work of the Russian classic, corresponding to the plots, in Russian and English. This project is capable of excellently presenting the country on the international stage, Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya is confident. The edition was released with the official permission of the artist's heirs, the Marc Chagall Committee, and the Copyright Committee in Paris. Today, the complete set of Marc Chagall's etchings is an exclusive material for museum and private collections. In the post-Soviet space, it is held in the collections of only three museums - the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, to which the etchings were donated by the artist himself in 1927 and 1981, respectively, and the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk, donated by the master's granddaughters Meret and Bella Meyer. Understanding the significance of the illustrations and the importance of their publication as a complete set, the Vitebsk museum staff made several attempts to implement the project, but it was only possible to realize it in cooperation with the Minsk Printing Factory of Goznak. The designer of the edition is Valery Leutin, a member of the Belarusian Union of Artists, and a prize-winner of international and republican competitions in book and advertising. "It is very gratifying that the publishing project could be implemented this year, when the 200th anniversary of Nikolai Gogol's birth is being celebrated," said Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya. Moreover, museum staff hope that the edition "Marc Chagall's Illustrations for N.V. Gogol's Poem 'Dead Souls'" will find its way into every school in the country, as the study of the literary work is included in the school curriculum. Marc Chagall began working on the illustrations for "Dead Souls" in 1923, fulfilling an order from the French publisher Ambroise Vollard. The artist engraved 96 etchings, the entire print run of which was printed in 1927. Specifically for the publication of Chagall's illustrations, Henri Mongault translated Gogol's poem into French. The French version of "Dead Souls" with Chagall's illustrations was released in Paris only in 1948. The small print run of the book (368 copies) in the form of two unbound volumes with Chagall's original etchings was intended for museums, libraries, and collectors. -0-