36 - Marc Chagall (1887–1985)

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, Plate 83 from *The Bible*, 1958. Engraving on paper, monogrammed in the lower right corner and numbered 44/100 in the lower left corner Image dimensions: 29 x 24.5 cm; 39 x 50 cm Bibliography: Cramer 30 This print is part of the monumental project dedicated to the Old Testament, initiated by art dealer Ambroise Vollard in the early 1930s and finally published by the renowned publisher Tériade in 1956. The composition depicts the biblical episode of the encounter between the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, portraying the two figures in an intimate setting imbued with intense spiritual depth. Through an engraving of remarkable artistic subtlety, Chagall draws on the richness of blacks and a dense network of cross-hatching to sculpt interplays of light and shadow from which a sense of the sacred emerges. This print bears witness to the painter’s profoundly human, poetic, and universal approach to sacred texts, graphically conveying the power of faith and human distress with a striking economy of means.