Chagall- Les Deux Pigeons

FABLES DE LA FONTAINE

LES DEUX PIGEON
The two doves.

(Signed in the plate bottom middle)

 The etchings for The Fables were executed by Chagall between 1927 and 1930; The Fables was issued in an edition of 200 portfolios , 40 of which also contained a suite of the etchings on japon and 85 of which contained a suite with hand-coloring by Chagall. In addition, there were 15 portfolios hors commerce. There were also 100 sets of the etchings signed and numbered.

References:
Charles Sorlier, Marc Chagall et Ambroise Vollard: Catalogue Complet des Gravures Exécutées par Marc Chagall a la demande de Ambroise Vollard (Paris: Editions Galerie Matignon, 1981).

As Meyer comments, "Iin this plates the painterly content appears enormously increased. Chagall now foregoes the application of aquatint and use of the rocking tool; also dry point technique is scarcely evident. Instead, he does everything by means of etching, and covers the engraved surface with stopping out varnish, a combination that makes for intensive painterly effects. The etching needle draws the most delicately ramified foliage and bush patterns, the texture of plumage and soft fur, and through shadings and cross-hatchings gives a range of tonalities . . . from white to a deep black. . . . Thus each picture is the result of a long series of working stages in the course of which the pictorial design in light and dark is slowly worked out in a process comparable to the building up of the color structure in a painting."