Elle et lui (She and He) is among Hasegawa's works that give abstract compositional relationships a human, relational dimension through title. Two formally distinct elements occupy the plate: one perhaps more lyrical and curved in line quality, evoking the traditional associations of femininity; the other more angular or assertive, its drypoint or hard-ground lines carrying greater tonal weight. Hasegawa would have drawn these distinctions through choices of acid-biting duration—longer biting produces deeper, darker lines—and through the selective application of rosin aquatint to modulate tonal texture. His Paris environment exposed him to the gestural figuration of artists working in the orbit of Art Informel, a context that encouraged him to invest abstract mark-making with emotional and interpersonal content. The French title places this print firmly within his Parisian output, where Western Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist conversations informed how he encoded relationships in non-representational form.
Elle et lui was created by Shoichi Hasegawa (長谷川潔一).
Elle et lui uses Etching, on etching.
Elle et lui depicts calligraphy and abstract.
