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This etching and aquatint in colour is hand signed in pencil by the artist “Marc Chagall” at the lower right margin. It is also hand numbered in pencil from the edition of 100, at the lower left margin. It was printed and published circa 1930 by the Éditions Apollo Artistiques, Paris based on an oil painting of the same name from 1923. Provenance: Estate of Anne Rosenzweig, New York.
Note: The oil painting “The Praying Jew” on which this work is based is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. This, along with one other version in oil held by the Ca’ Pesaro, Venice, were created in 1923 upon the artist’s return to Paris following the First World War. On his arrival in Paris it became clear much of the works he had created before the outbreak of war had not survived and so Chagall created these two paintings based on an oil he created in Vitebsk in 1914. The central figure was a beggar in Vitebsk who the artist had paid to wear his father’s prayer clothes in an attempt to capture what Chagall felt were fast disappearing traditions. The composition although solemn in choice of palette shows the influence of Cubism on Chagall – proving that even the most traditional subjects from the artist’s life in Vitebsk can be viewed alongside the burgeoning Parisian Avant-garde.
Condition: Very good condition. Pale time-staining around the image. The sheet very slightly, but evenly toned. A soft crease at the lower right corner.
