Head of a Child (Emmanuel)

The typical relationship between light and dark is reversed in this drawing. A bright, crawling infant, leaning its weight on its forearms, seems to emerge from the shadows. This technique, wherein individual marks give way to a broader, atmospheric effect, was indebted to Georges Seurat, whom Angrand knew well. Although he made his name in Paris, after the death of his father Angrand retreated to his hometown of Saint-Laurent-en-Caux to care for his mother in 1896. This work comes from that period. Angrand explained that in his drawings, “animals, objects, and people . . . appear in simple shapes, summarizing the observer’s [own] feelings.”