This high relief in Rognes stone is sculpted on both sides. A couple in an embrace with a rooster, an Eiffel tower, and a moon occupy one side, while the other features a second couple in front of a village with a bird. A rare example within Chagall’s work of a relief sculpted on both sides, Couple with Bird has a surprisingly archaic and intentionally unfinished appearance, in keeping with the dense and compact shape of the slab of stone.
The abrupt carving of the material gives a voluntary impression of erosion, showing the fictional passage of time on the stone’s surface. Like archeological ruins, the sculpted voids and cavities appear to contain the memory of centuries past; the very structure of the block and its decorative statement seem to bear a nod to medieval architecture, and more specifically to Romanesque sculpted chapiters. Legible at the stone’s surface, erosions and alveola evoke submarine rock, sponges, and corals brimming with salt. As if from a legendary Mediterranean, such imagery fascinated many artists at the dawn of the twentieth century and in the second half of the century.
Chagall’s decision to use Rognes stone, a material with a warm, sunny color and a rough, grainy texture, reinforces the intentionally basic rendering, from which the original strength of the first sculptors emanates. Also used in the sculptures Christ [Le Christ] (1951 - 1952) and Moses [Moïse] (1952), this stone is a response to Marc Chagall’s questioning of materials and their intrinsic qualities, playing a role in his quest to explore and discover stone, ceramic, and glass, an undertaking he embarked upon in the early 1950s.
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Marc CHAGALL, in collaboration with Lanfranco LISARELLI, Landscape and Couple With a Bird (Paysage et Couple à l'oiseau), 1952, rognes stone, 20 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 8 11/16 in. (52.5 x 37 x 22 cm), Musée national d'art moderne, Paris © Fabrice GOUSSET/ADAGP, Paris, 2024
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Marc CHAGALL, in collaboration with Lanfranco LISARELLI, Landscape and Couple With a Bird (Paysage et Couple à l'oiseau), 1952, rognes stone, 20 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 8 11/16 in. (52.5 x 37 x 22 cm), Musée national d'art moderne, Paris © Fabrice GOUSSET/ADAGP, Paris, 2024
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Marc CHAGALL, in collaboration with Lanfranco LISARELLI, Landscape and Couple With a Bird (Paysage et Couple à l'oiseau), 1952, rognes stone, 20 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 8 11/16 in. (52.5 x 37 x 22 cm), Musée national d'art moderne, Paris © Fabrice GOUSSET/ADAGP, Paris, 2024
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Marc CHAGALL, in collaboration with Lanfranco LISARELLI, Landscape and Couple With a Bird (Paysage et Couple à l'oiseau), 1952, rognes stone, 20 11/16 x 14 9/16 x 8 11/16 in. (52.5 x 37 x 22 cm), Musée national d'art moderne, Paris © Fabrice GOUSSET/ADAGP, Paris, 2024
