Suzanne with Straw Hat (Suzanne au chapeau de paille) 1927

André Dunoyer de Segonzac scratched “Suzanne with Straw Hat” onto a copper plate and pulled this image from it. The plate has been incised by decisive marks, hatched and cross-hatched; it’s the kind of drawing that's so linear, it almost feels like sculpture. I wonder what it was like to sit with Suzanne, perhaps in the bright French sunlight? I can imagine Segonzac’s hand moving swiftly and surely across the plate to catch the planes of her face and body. He was an artist interested in realism, but there's also an emotional truth here. Take a look at the lines around Suzanne’s eyes: they're deep and knowing. This isn’t just a likeness, it's a psychological portrait. It reminds me of other modern artists such as Paula Modersohn-Becker, who similarly used linear hatching to expose the inner self. Suzanne stares out at us, as though she's inviting us to look, feel, and think.