Start of 100 Meter Race (Le Depart des 100 metres) 1930

Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac made this print, Start of 100 Meter Race, with some kind of etching process, resulting in a dense weave of lines that bring the athlete to life. It’s all about the process, about putting down lines, letting them build up, and finding the form within that accumulation. Look at how Segonzac renders the tension in the runner's body. The figure is all sharp angles and taut muscles, a coiled spring ready to explode. The hatching marks build up around the contours of the body, giving it a real sense of volume and weight, but it’s not heavy, it’s light and agile. I can almost feel the grit under his fingers, the anticipation hanging in the air. The marks that describe the ground are suggestive, just a few strokes, vertical and implying movement. In this way it reminds me of the later work of Phillip Guston, where forms come out of a primordial soup of marks. You know, art's not about perfection, it's about the energy, the gesture, the trace of a hand. It is an ongoing conversation across time.