Accession Number
1964/2.66

Title
Cithare et coquillage

Artist(s)
Louis Marcoussis

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1922

Medium & Support
aquatint and etching on paper

Dimensions
24 1/2 in x 34 in (62.23 cm x 86.36 cm);29 in x 36 in (73.66 cm x 91.44 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
No other type of subject matter lent itself more naturally to Cubist treatment than still life. As with Cubism itself, the still life genre embodies, in the words of E.H. Gombrich, the tensions between "demands of nature and the demands of art." As an artistic structuring of everyday life, an attempt to create harmony from diverse common objects, still life subjects presented the Cubists with wonderful opportunities to create ambiguous and tenuously balanced compositions that test the boundary lines between abstraction and representation.

Subject matter
Zither and the Shell-fish is a Cubist abstract print that plays with the shapes of objects. The body of the zither is illuminated, as well as the shell, connecting the two across the grey and black areas between. During the 1920s, Marcoussis explored Cubism through still lifes and scenes, such as this one, where he compares the form and shape of everyday objects that are seemingly unrelated. Marcoussis was born in Poland but became a French citizen after World War I, while still maintaining a connection to Poland.

Physical Description
This abstract composition is a still life, in the cubist manner, of a stringed instrument, two sea shells, and a square with the heart symbol on it. The center of the composition is light while the perimeter is grey and black as if covered with a shadow.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Musical instruments
modern and contemporary art
musical instruments
seashell
shape (form attribute)
zithers