Time is a River Without Banks

Time is a River Without Banks is an etching created by Marc Chagall in 1928. This distinctive print exemplifies the artist's engagement with graphic media during his sustained period in France, cementing his association with the modernist currents of French cultural production. Executed as a fine art print, the work harnesses the linear precision inherent in the etching technique to translate Chagall’s characteristic merging of memory, folklore, and dreamlike imagery into a powerful black-and-white composition. The dedication to producing high-quality prints was central to Chagall’s artistic output throughout the late 1920s.

As a significant piece from 1928, the composition defies conventional perspective, often presenting a fantastical scene where figures and objects float untethered or exist simultaneously in disparate scales. Chagall frequently used iconography associated with his Jewish heritage and his early life in Vitebsk, rendering personal history into universal meditations on love, time, and displacement. The stark contrast and graphic detail afforded by the etching medium intensify the symbolic weight of the visual elements, lending the piece an atmosphere that is simultaneously ethereal and emotionally charged.

The continuing importance of this work lies in its potent distillation of Chagall's vision during a pivotal moment in his career. The quality and depth achieved in this particular impression are exemplary of the high standards for graphic arts during this period. This key example of the artist’s graphic oeuvre currently resides in the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it contributes to the museum's comprehensive holdings of early 20th-century French culture and modern graphic arts.