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Zoomorphic
Couple
1933
Oil on canvas
91.9 x 73.3 cm
76.2553 PG 75 |
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In Zoomorphic Couple, the appearance of light, sinuous
channels through dark painted areas produces a relieflike
effect suggestive of frottage (rubbing technique). However,
the artist created the effect here by putting paint-laden
string or rope on top of the canvas and spraying over
it. The image of the bird, which recurs frequently in
Max
Ernst’s work from 1925, had become
an almost obsessive preoccupation by 1930. In the present
painting one can discern a vaguely birdlike form and
a caressing humanoid arising from the primordial material
that gives them their substance. The forms have the
effect of dream or poetic apparition.
The sense of genesis and evolutionary stirrings in Zoomorphic
Couple is complemented by the creative inventiveness
of the artist, who combines layers of pastel color under
spattered, blown, and dripped paint.
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