However, he repeated the same along with other paintings in 1923, when he realized that much of his work was destroyed during World War I. For this painting, he took an old man on the streets and paid him to sit in for the painting. Marc then gave him his father’s prayer clothes to get a good illustration of the prayer session. The gentleman wore a fringed shawl with black bands and held phylacteries (This was two small square, leather boxes containing passages from the Jewish law - the Torah) tied to the head and the left arm by leather straps.
According to the artist, the old ways of praying had disappeared over the years. He wanted to create a painting to document these prayer traditions for the generations after him to know about it. Being a Jew, he was spiritual and liked his old ways of communicating to the deity. As explained in the article, his father was also deeply religious.
A prayer session is a quiet time to meet with the Maker. Marc wanted to capture the sombre mood of prayer by using black and white tones in his work. Viewers can feel the worship atmosphere as the subject on the image closes his eyes for prayer. The artist has used cubism to bring out his ideas. One of the characteristics of the style is the use of various points of view on the painting. This removes the notion of depth, and the image seems to be placed on a two-dimensional plane. This is extensively used in this painting.
Second, the painter has made use of geometrical patterns to create the subject and his surroundings. The show is symmetrical and looks like a prism. The bands are geometrical. Besides the blacks and whites used on the image also create a symmetry. Marc has achieved all this without sacrificing any of the qualities of the subject. The Praying Jew is simple and executed perfectly. Nonetheless, one can only admire the amount of work that has gone into creating intricate patterns, an abstract background, a sombre mood and a perfect 2D demonstration of the scene. He made it when the world was undergoing a difficult war period and empathized the need for them to turn to prayer to seek guidance from their Maker.
