The Hill of Sainte-Anne (La Colline de Sainte-Anne) 1925

André Dunoyer de Segonzac made this etching, The Hill of Sainte-Anne, using closely packed lines to create tone and texture. It reminds me that artmaking is a process of layering, a kind of visual archaeology where each mark builds upon the last. The entire image is built from the intricate use of line. Look at the way the lines mimic the textures of the landscape: the dense, scribbled thicket of the hill, the sparse grass in the foreground, and the parallel strokes that give weight to the sky. The artist seems to be saying something about the way mark-making can give a sense of weight and gravity. There’s a kind of raw honesty in the process, unconcerned with hiding the labor involved. Segonzac reminds me of artists like Lucian Freud, who have a similarly unvarnished approach. Ultimately, The Hill of Sainte-Anne invites us to appreciate art not as a window onto a fixed reality, but as a record of a living, breathing process.