Circular Design with View of Country Store 1964

Stuart Egnal made this intaglio print, Circular Design with View of Country Store, in 1964. The etching looks like a diagram for a stage set with its repeated verticals and horizontals and a sphere hovering in the wings. Up close, you can see that each line is incised with subtle variations in depth and pressure, creating a range of values and textures. The web of lines in the circular ground of the print gives way to a more spare treatment of the interior scene, with individual strokes defining edges and volumes. The composition, while abstract, teases us with a sense of depth and space. That sphere, perched on a rectangular support, looks like the product of a collaboration between Giorgio de Chirico and Agnes Martin. Like them, Egnal seemed to be exploring the relationships between geometric forms and the psychological effects of spatial arrangement.