Fair at Chaville (La Foire a Chaville) 1924

Curator: Welcome. We're standing before André Dunoyer de Segonzac's "Fair at Chaville," a 1924 etching that offers a glimpse into a lively cityscape. Editor: It feels instantly charming, almost like a page torn from a storybook. The scene hums with implied motion. Curator: Exactly! Segonzac's impressionistic style captures that feeling. Note how he uses line work to convey a bustling fairground with trees, tents and a carousel filled with folks. Editor: The composition is fascinating. See how the strong horizontal lines of the carousel roof and fairground tents create a structured foreground? Above that, the energetic hatch marks making up the dark masses of the trees give an atmospheric and contrasting feel. It suggests depth, the buzz of people fading further into the backdrop. Curator: Indeed, that tension between structure and implied chaos. I like to think of it as how our minds actually hold memories: fragments of detail floating against a blurred sense of overall emotion. Editor: Interesting. I’m thinking more about Segonzac’s semiotic strategy in relation to the avant-garde tradition. Consider his contemporaries... but perhaps that’s getting too far afield. Tell me about his process; that rough line quality is very evocative. Curator: As an etcher, Segonzac was interested in directly capturing the energy of life in the moment – en plein air even for printmaking, if you can imagine. Editor: He's translated a real sensory experience—the sounds, the sights, the pure childlike wonder of a fair, all distilled into this single print. He does this incredibly with only very slight manipulations of tone. He really embraces a direct engagement with line to evoke feeling. Curator: And perhaps, a feeling of days gone by… a fleeting moment preserved. What do you take away after this discussion? Editor: I’m left appreciating his expert use of the medium and line. The piece becomes not only a landscape study but a visual statement that reflects Segonzac’s intimate knowledge of both impressionism and structuralism. Curator: For me, it's about that childlike magic, now amplified through the layers of Segonzac's experience as a mature artist.