Knock Out, First Version (Le K.O. du noir (premiere version)) 1922

André Dunoyer de Segonzac made this etching called, Knock Out, First Version, with what looks like fierce, expressive energy! It looks like the artist worked fast, the lines are full of hatching and cross-hatching to build up tone and shadow; it’s all about capturing the moment. I can imagine him, bent over the plate, scratching furiously, trying to capture the weight and drama of the scene. You can almost feel the impact of the blow that sent the boxer sprawling, a dark mass of defeat. The standing figure, looming over his fallen opponent, is all angles and tension. And the claustrophobic, cage-like space around them, a web of intersecting lines that traps the fighters in their brutal dance. But there's also this raw, visceral quality about the work. Segonzac was really investigating how to show the grit and intensity of these moments with these dark, angular lines. There’s something about seeing the history of art, and the history of seeing, all at once, kind of bumping into each other.