An Old Jew
1922
Medium
etching and drypoint in black on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 11.8 x 9.5 cm (4 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.) sheet: 34.6 x 27 cm (13 5/8 x 10 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gerhard E. Pinkus
Accession Number
1996.138.9
Art Historical Context
Marc Chagall's *An Old Jew* (1922) captures the introspective essence of Eastern European Jewish life, a recurring theme in the artist's oeuvre. Born to a modest Jewish family in Vitek, Russia, Ch infused his modernist works with dreamlike imagery, vibrant colors, and poignant cultural references. By 1922, living in Paris amid the post-World War I era, he created this intimate etching as part of a series portraying elderly Jewish figures, reflecting both personal nostalgia and the resilience of his heritage amid rising antisemitism in Europe. Executed in etching and drypoint on laid paper, th...
About the Artist
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall, born Moishe Shagal on July 7, 1887, in Liozna near Vitebsk in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), grew up as the eldest of nine children in a devout Jewish family confined to the Pale of Settlement. His father worked as a herring merchant's porter, while his mother sold groceries from home, instilling in young Chagall a deep connection to Hasidic Judaism and Eastern European folklore a...