Hagar

Signed with artist’s seal on lower edge

Plaster, resin, and bronze editions available
Framed plaster – $400 + shipping/handling
Self-hanging resin/bronze – prices on request
Please inquire about the discount available for a subscription to the series.

This relief presents a midrashic (interpretive) portrait of the biblical figure of Hagar at a pivotal moment in her life.

Hagar’s Story

Hagar is an Egyptian “handmaid” or domestic slave to Sarah, wife of Abraham. Despite God’s promise to Abraham that he would be a “father of a great nation,” Sarah is unable to conceive a child. She arranges for Hagar to be her surrogate; however, after Hagar conceives, she looks down on Sarah, and Sarah begins to abuse her in turn. Hagar runs out into the desert and there receives a promise from God that she will bear a son, whom she will name Ishmael, meaning “God heeds.” Hagar then returns to Abraham’s household.

Fourteen years later, Sarah gives birth to Isaac. The boys play together as brothers, but Sarah again becomes jealous, and demands that Abraham eject Hagar and her son from the camp. Mother and son wander in the wilderness until their water gives out. Hagar places the weakened Ishmael under a bush and sits “a bowshot away” and cries to God. This the moment portrayed in the relief. The remainder of the story is told in Genesis 21:17-21, with a coda at 25:1-18.