The Last Confession 1919 - 1920

Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac made this print, with its tight hatching and cross-hatching, maybe during or after the First World War. I can imagine him, bent over the plate, etching needle in hand, making tiny lines to describe the hugeness of death. What was he thinking, making this image? Did he know these men? The tenderness of the figures contrasts with the horror of the scene – the crisp white bandage, the heavy shapes of the men, the blackness swallowing all. The bodies become a mass of marks; each line creates a tension. The image reminds me of Kathe Kollwitz. They’re both using printmaking to deal with trauma, but their marks are different, their sensibilities, too. Segonzac’s is a quieter horror. Artists talk to each other over time. I can see Segonzac looking back at Goya and forward to Kollwitz, all sharing ways of seeing. Painting, etching, drawing–they all embrace the unresolved and uncertain, where meanings are multiple and never pinned down for good.