André Dunoyer de Segonzac

Merson's academic style of instruction did not suit Segonzac, however, and, following a period of military service, he studied at the Académie de La Palette, whose staff included Jacques Émile Blanche (he would later teach at La Palette with Jean Metzinger and Henri Le Fauconnier).

In 1914, the year of his first solo exhibition (at the Galerie Levesque in Paris), Segonzac was drafted for military service in World War I.

He saw combat in the region of Nancy and at Bois-Le-Prêtre, before being transferred to the pioneering camouflage section led by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola.

Segonzac found etching to be a congenial medium to his spontaneous drawing style, and by the end of his life he had produced some 1600 plates.

In the judgement of Anne Distel, chief curator of the Musée d'Orsay, "The technical perfection and the nobility of the tone, which carried the cachet of the original, but was imbued throughout with an unfailing lyricism, make this work Segonzac's masterpiece.