Job en prière - Job desespéré 1960

This powerful 1960 lithograph by Marc Chagall, Job en prière – Job désespéré, forms part of the celebrated publication Verve, issues 37–38, titled Dessins pour la Bible. Published by Tériade, the Verve Bible series represents one of Chagall’s most profound engagements with sacred text through printmaking.

The composition is structured as a diptych, presenting two emotional states of the biblical figure Job. On one side, Job appears in prayer — his green-toned face lifted upward in supplication, eyes wide with spiritual appeal. Above him, an angelic figure emerges in light, suggesting divine presence or silent witness. On the opposite panel, Job is shown in despair — turned inward, clutching himself in sorrow, his expression heavy with anguish and doubt.

Chagall’s expressive use of color heightens the emotional polarity. Deep greens, reds, and blacks intensify the psychological drama. The layered lithographic textures — rich with crayon-like strokes and velvety shadows — give the work a tactile immediacy. Rather than illustrating scripture literally, Chagall translates spiritual experience into emotional color and symbolic form.

The Book of Job has long been associated with themes of suffering, faith, endurance, and divine mystery. Chagall, whose own life was marked by exile, war, and loss, found in Job a deeply personal resonance. The dual portrayal reflects the oscillation between hope and despair — a universal human tension rendered here with haunting simplicity.

The Verve Bible lithographs are considered among Chagall’s most important graphic achievements. Combining modernist freedom with mystical devotion, Job en prière – Job désespéré stands as a moving testament to Chagall’s lifelong dialogue between art and spirituality — where color becomes prayer, and line becomes lament.

Lithograph

Religion - Press

Verve Edition 37-38 - Drawings for the Bible

Printed by Mourlot

Good condition, one original crease