Two Nudes

In this marble sculpture with a narrative dimension recalling the Torah Scroll, Marc Chagall provides an interpretation of one of the stories of Genesis. The two entwined figures, one female and the other male—onto whom the artist projects his own features—evoke the primordial couple formed by Adam and Eve¹. Animals from Chagall’s repertoire, the butterfly and the tree suggest the idyllic natural setting of the Garden of Eden. The Eve figure, emphasized by a play on proportions, shadows and light made possible by the way the marble is carved, holds herself in front of Adam, his body barely visible, and rests her head tenderly against his. This position (also found in the sculpture The Two Faces or Couple [Les Deux Visages ou Couple] (1953)) reflects the union and complementarity of male and female, already apparent in Homage to Apollinaire or Adam and Eve [Hommage à Apollinaire ou Adam et Ève] (1911 - 1912). The leaves covering Eve’s nudity convey her modesty and evoke the attitude of a modest Venus, such as the Venus of Urbino by Titian. Could this be a formal way of depicting the moment when the couple discovers their nudity after tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Such modesty comes through in many of the artist’s works, particularly when he depicts certain nudes. By using a stylized approach to portraying the body, Chagall suggests an idealized vision of femininity pared down to the essentials, as in The Nude Cloud [Le Nuage nu] (1945 - 1946).
Two Nudes or Adam and Eve or Column Sculpture demonstrates yet again the rich extent of the artist’s sources of inspiration. The leaf pattern echos medieval statues (for example, the low-relief Temptation of Eve from the Cathedral of Saint Lazarus of Autun). This reference to medieval architecture is also conveyed by one of the titles of the piece and the decision to use the term “column sculpture².” The figures and the way they are arranged—slightly detached from the core of the block—recall the piece The Grape Harvest, carved in wood by Ossip Zadkine. Sharing a taste for monumentality and vertical compositions with Chagall, Zadkine aimed to create “a standing people³.” The female figure with round breasts and the column-shaped composition also evoke the ornamental and figurative sculpture of Indian temples (Buddhist and Hindu) with voluptuous mythological divinities and figures, such as yakshinis and shâlabhanjikâ (divinity of the tree).