Les Amants

Two horses occupy the centre of the sheet in an almost circular interweaving. Their heads meet in the upper part, while the necks, hindquarters and limbs respond to one another through broad curves. The bodies are not arranged face to face like two isolated figures: they form a single dense shape, closed in on itself. The title thus directs the animal motif towards a scene of intimacy, in which the encounter is conveyed less through a narrative than through the contact of the lines and the accord of the movements. The highly mobile black plays several roles. It draws certain contours with calligraphic clarity, gathers into deep masses around the heads and limbs, then lightens into grey scuffings crossed by a fine texture. This alternation between firm line, luminous reserve and diffused material models the volumes without immobilising them. The eye moves continually around the group, carried along by the lateral loops and the broad oval movement that envelops the animals. The nervous tips of the legs lend this supple architecture a livelier punctuation. The warm tone of the paper heightens the presence of the black and gives the whole a muted, almost golden light. The broadly preserved margins give the composition breathing space, despite the strong concentration of the subject. At bottom left, the notation « 47/50/78 » visually inscribes the sheet within the vocabulary of the numbered print; on the right appear a black signature and a second, paler inscription. The grey mount and the brown frame with a light edging discreetly extend the contrasts of the image, without competing with its central energy. Within Sergio Cecchi’s oeuvre, principally linked to Geneva and often associated with streets, quays and ports, this sheet reveals a more synthetic aspect of his figurative work. The horse nevertheless belongs to his documented repertoire, alongside landscape, bouquets and figures. Here, the artist transposes into the graphic work the same attention to rhythm, the circulation of silhouettes and the energy of gesture that animate his painted compositions.