The Menagerie, Versailles (Large Plate) (Versailles, la Menagerie (grande planche)) 1924

André Dunoyer de Segonzac made this etching, The Menagerie, Versailles, using delicate linear strokes. I see him outside, squinting, trying to translate all that light into marks. The lines are so descriptive, like a shorthand for seeing. Look at the scribble of the leaves – can't you feel the air moving them? I’m wondering if he was racing the sunset when he made this. You know, fighting to capture the scene before the light changed completely. The way he's rendered the architecture almost disappears into the landscape. Etching is so cool because the artist has to embrace chance and trust the medium. It's a conversation between the hand, the acid, and the plate. And then, of course, we get to join in the conversation, too.