The Holy Woman

Currently not on view

The Holy Woman

c. 1917

Reproduction after a drawing of c. 1913 by Marc Chagall (French (born Vitebsk, Russian Empire), 1887–1985) Published by Verlag der Sturm, Berlin

A pregnant woman whose unborn child is visible through her womb appears multiple times in Chagall’s work between 1912 and 1913, first as a gouache study, then as a pen and ink drawing, from which this relief print was made, and finally as a large-scale painting, now in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. The artist derived his composition from a style of Byzantine icon that portrays Christ on a pendant hanging across the Virgin Mary’s torso. In Chagall’s representation, the pregnant woman becomes a Russian peasant in a traditional patterned dress, tied to the cycles of birth, the moon, seasonal migration, and the harvest.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Titles:

The Holy Woman
Published in the journal Der Sturm, Vol. VIII, No. 2 (Berlin, May 1917)

Date:

c. 1917

Artists:

Reproduction after a drawing of c. 1913 by Marc Chagall (French (born Vitebsk, Russian Empire), 1887–1985) Published by Verlag der Sturm, Berlin

Medium:

Metal relief print (reproduction of a pen and ink drawing)

Dimensions:

Image: 12 x 7 1/4 inches (30.5 x 18.4 cm) Sheet: 13 1/2 x 9 9/16 inches (34.3 x 24.3 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

Gift of Christian Brinton, 1941

Accession Number:

1941-79-23

Geography:

Made in Paris, France, Europe

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Currently not on view