Although the Bible may not have seen like the most likely source of imagers for an artist seeking a decisive break with the past, two of the greatest religious artists of all time, Georges Rouault and Marc Chagall, found themselves seeking new bottles for old wine and found ways of dealing with deeply-held religious beliefs in a distinctly modernist way. Beginning shortly after World War I, Rouault began a project for Ambroise Vollard that was originally to include 100 large mixed-media pieces on the subjects of Miserere and Guerre. These two sets of intaglios, each with their own title page, form a profoundly moving jouney through human savagery and diving mercy. Half way though the series, Rouault turned in the mid-1930s to a smaller set of images (both in size and in quantity) for a volume on the subject of the Passion and the modern world, Beginning in 1930, Chagall also began work for Vollard on a series of 105 etchings for the Bible, centering not on the New Testament but the Old. By 1939, when Vollard died and Chagall had to flee Europe to avoid a Nazi concentration camp, he was more than halfway through the 105 etchings he had planned to create, but the remaining etchings would have to wait until 1952-1956 for completion and publication by Teriade.

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958), Christ among the poor (C&R 258). Original etching and aquatint, 1935. 40 impressions signed and dated in the plate in black & white as ours and 250 pencil-signed impressions in color for The Passion. The color plates were made by Roger Lacourier from Rouault's hand-painted key plate or from Rouault's gouache under Rouault's supervision. Image size: 306x215mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958), Christ et la Sainte Femme / Christ and the Holy Woman (C&R 261b). Original color and aquatint, 1935. 40 impressions signed and dated in the plate in black & white and 250 impressions in color for The Passion. The color plates were made by Roger Lacourier from Rouault's hand-painted key plate or from Rouault's gouache under Rouault's supervision. Image size: 310x208mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958), Christ au faubourg / Christ in the Neighborhood (C&R 262). Original etching and aquatint, 1935. 40 impressions signed and dated in the plate in black & white as ours and 250 pencil-signed impressions in color. The color plates were made by Roger Lacourier from Rouault's key plate (shown left) under Rouault's supervision. Image size: 295x195mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958), Christ au faubourg / Christ in the Neighborhood (C&R 262). Original aquatint, hand-painted by Rouault with gouache & watercolor, 1935. There were 40 impressions signed and dated in the plate in black & white as ours and 250 pencil-signed impressions in color executed for The Passion. The color plates were made by Roger Lacourier from Rouault's hand-painted key plate (shown above) under Rouault's supervision. Ours is a beautiful hand-painted proof in colors different than those in the final version of the color print. A unique trial proof. Image size: 295x195mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958), Christ au faubourg / Christ in the Neighborhood (C&R 262). Original aquatint, hand-painted by Rouault with gouache & watercolor, 1935. There were 40 impressions signed and dated in the plate in black & white as ours and 250 pencil-signed impressions in color executed for The Passion. The color plates were made by Roger Lacourier from Rouault's hand-painted key plate (shown above) under Rouault's supervision. Ours is a beautiful hand-painted proof in colors different than those in the final version of the color print. A unique trial proof. Image size: 295x195mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Abraham mourning for the death of Sarah (Hanover 286, Sorlier 210). Original etching, 1931-39. 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. A brilliant impression in excellent condition of one of Chagall's most acclaimed etchings. Illustrated in Passeron, Chagall: Maitres de la gravure, Meyer, Chagall's Graphic Works, and Nice 1987. Image size: 293x240mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Darkness over Egypt (H. 306, S. 229). Original etching, 1931-39. 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. Image size: 291x228mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Moses and Aaron before Pharoah (H. 305, S. 228). Original monoprint with extensive hand coloring on top of an etching, 1931-39. Ours is a unique hand-painted trial proof before the edition of the hand-colored etching. In this proof, most of the colors that will be used in the final version are present, but they are not applied in the same places. For the finished print, there were 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate. Image size: 288x225mm. Price: SOLD.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Moses breaking the tablets of the Law. (H. 314, S. 237) Original etching, 1931-39. 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. Image size: 294x231mm. Price: SOLD.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), David devant Saul / David before Saul (H. 339, S. 261) Original etching, 1931-1939; completed 1952-1956. 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. Meyer Shapiro has called Chagall one of the greatest religious artists of all time. Image size: 324x235mm. Price: SOLD.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Debora la Prophetesse / Deborah the Prophet (H. 327, S. 249). Original etching, 1931-1939; printed 1939. 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. Illustrated in Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall (1977) and Marc Chagall Druckgraphik (Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, 1985). Image size: 303x252mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Marc Chagall (Russia 1887-1985 Paris), Isaiah's Prayer (H. 374, S. 297). Original etching, 1931-1939; completed 1952-1956 100 signed and numbered hand-colored proofs plus 295 black and white impressions signed in the plate, of which this is one. One of 15 etchings from the Bible (of 106) included in the 1970 Bibliotheque Nationale show of Chagall's graphic works. Image size: 326x247mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.

Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.

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For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.

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Visiting hours: Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday noon to 6:00 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Prints and Drawings: Prints by Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque,
Charles Camoin, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Henri Edmond Cross, Edgar Degas, Sonia Delaunay,
Maurice Denis, André Derain, Susanne Duchamp, Raoul Dufy, Jean-Louis Forain, Paul Gauguin,
Marie Laurencin, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Berthé Morisot, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Auguste Renoir,
Georges Rouault, Ker Xavier Roussel, Paul Signac, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon,
Maurice de Vlaminck, James A. McNeill Whistler, and others.

Drawings by Albert Besnard, Andre Barbier, Henri Edmond Cross, Jean-Louis Forain, Eva Gonzales,
Marie Laurencin, Maximilien Luce, and Georges Rouault.

Hand-colored prints by Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall, Sonja Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró,
Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.

For a review of the show that concludes, "Art exhibits in Madison rarely get this good," click review.