Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Psaume de David (PL.24)

Very beautiful print in black on an ochre background.

Technique: etching and aquatint
Support: Arches velin paper
Numbering: 14/40
Signature: Hand-signed
Sheet dimensions: 38.3 × 28.5 cm
Framing: Gold frame and acrylic glass

Condition: Very good condition

Authentication: Work sold with certificate of authenticity. Referred to as Cramer 109.

Information about the work:

The Psalms of David occupy a singular place in Marc Chagall's oeuvre, as the natural culmination of a life wholly traversed by biblical spirituality and Jewish memory. Throughout his career, Chagall continually drew on sacred texts—from the illustrated Bible made with Tériade to the Jerusalem windows—and the Psalms, with their ardent lyricism and constant tension between lamentation and praise, resonated deeply with his most intimate sensibility.

This series devoted to this fundamental text is distinguished by an economy of means put at the service of maximal intensity: floating figures, musicians, lovers and angels dissolve in an inner light that goes beyond the anecdote to reach the universal.

Black and ochre, the favored palette of these graphic works, establish a poised gravity, far from the festive colors that made Chagall famous— as if the subject itself imposed its own silence.

Rare and particularly sought after by discerning collectors, the works from this cycle rank among the most accomplished expressions of the artist's maturity.

They attest to that ongoing dialogue between faith, memory and creation that Chagall was probably one of the few artists of the 20th century to maintain with such coherence for almost nine decades of work.