Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Belorussian-born French painter, printmaker and designer was born in a small city in the Western Russian Empire near the Polish frontier.  After studying under Leon Bakst in St. Petersburg, Chagall went to Paris where he met many avant-garde painters from the Expressionist Chaim Soutine, abstract colorists and came under the influence of the Impressionists, Post-Impressionist and Fauvists.

Chagall learned the techniques of printmaking while in Berlin, met the Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard, was commissioned to produce a series of etchings for Gogol's "Dead Souls" which launched Chagall's long career as a printmaker.  The epic "Fables" and "Bible" series are now legendary, but Chagall was the producer of a number of smaller collections, many single plates and an impressive quantity of colored lithographs and monotypes.  At his best, however, Chagall reached a level of visual metaphor seldom attempted in modern art.