Marc Chagall: Stories of the Bible

May 2013-July2013

16 prints from Marc Chagall’s Bible series, one of his most important and ambitious projects, commissioned by Parisian art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard.

Chagall (1887-1985) was a master of black and white etching, depicting a range of emotions from despair to hope to triumph.  Each scene is alive with movement and drama, created by flowing lines, textured surfaces and strong areas of black.   The artist called the works a “modest gift to the Jewish people who always dreamed of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all people.”

After a trip to Palestine and Egypt, where he made a set of preliminary gouache studies for the project, Chagall began to etch the copper plates in 1931, completing the 105 etchings in 1939.   Decades later, Chagall gave the struck plates to the Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in Nice.  This show was on loan from a private collection.