4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Sarai

Artist Nancy Camden Witt (American, 1930-2009)

CultureAmerican

Date1981

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 51 x 38 in. (129.5 x 96.5 cm)

InscribedSigned: on the face at the upper left: N.C. Witt 1981; Signed on verso: Sarai on masking tape on stretcher bar and Varn-81 on wood of stretcher bar;

Credit LineGift of the family of Joel B. Cooper, in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper

Object number2002.26.12

Collections

Modern and Contemporary

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 226

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting referring to the Old Testament story of Sarai, Abraham's wife, and Hagar, Sarai's Egyptian slave. Sarai is shown from the side, on a stone-like platform in a chair. She wears a veil and cloak of white fabric; her waist is bound to a chair with a rope; the rope trails off the platform. Her arms and hands are covered by long black gloves, and she holds a bouquet of red flowers in her lap. White tennis shoes peek out from under her cloak. Behind her is an empty beach with clouds overhead.

Label TextNancy Camden Witt American, 1930–2009 Hagar, 1981 Oil on canvas Sarai, 1981 Oil on canvas Nancy Witt’s hyper-realistic paintings depict the biblical figures of Sarai (Sarah) and Hagar. Sarai was unable to bear children and told her husband Abraham to impregnate her Egyptian slave Hagar. After Hagar became pregnant with a son, Ishmael, her relationship with Sarai deteriorated. Eventually Sarai had her own son, Isaac, and expelled Hagar and Ishmael from her home. Witt’s vision of this story draws on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, whose writings focus on the process of integrating the human unconscious into our conscious lives. Sarai sits in a white wedding gown, and Hagar wears mournful black. The women become each other’s “shadow”— Jung’s term for the hidden and public sides of a single personality. Gift of the family of Joel B. Cooper, in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper 2002.26.11-.12ProvenanceJoel B. Cooper, Norfolk, Va., 1981-2002; Gift in memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper from the family of Joel B. Cooper to Chrysler Museum of Art, 2002. Exhibition History"Reallegory," Chrysler Museum, April 1--May 22, 1983. "The Bold 1980s: A Collector's Vision," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 19 - October, 2003. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010. "By Popular Demand: Your Selections, Your Gallery," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - August 31, 2014.Published ReferencesTeresa Annas, "Posing Questions with Paint," _The Virginian-Pilot_ (May 6, 1983): B1, B6. Nancy Camden Witt, _On Alternate Days: The Paintings of Nancy Witt_ (Ashland, Va.: Cross Mill Gallery, 1995), 43.