Victor Joseph Ségoffin, French, born - Head of Man Expressive of Horror - 1915 - T-Shirt

A gaunt man tilts his head back mid-scream, rendered in charcoal and white chalk on warm tan paper.

Visual Elements & Composition

Dark, rapidly hatched shading fills most of the sheet, so the pale face stands out as the main event. White chalk picks out the brow, cheekbone and jaw, giving the features a bony solidity, while the crown of the head rises in a light, raised mass. The eyes are deep-set and hollow, the nose sharply modelled, and the mouth is wide open. In the lower right, a handwritten French dedication, signed by Victor Ségoffin, runs in the margin of the portrait.

Meaning & Symbolism

The title names the subject plainly: a head expressive of horror. The staring sockets and open mouth make this a study of extreme fear rather than a likeness of one person. The date, March 1915, places the sheet in the first year of the First World War, and the anguish in the drawing matches that moment. The dedication addresses the American republic, which had not yet entered the war, so the picture of suffering arrives as a gesture of thanks sent across the Atlantic. Ségoffin was a French sculptor, and the drawing shows him modelling form in light and shadow, much as he would in clay or stone.

Wearing the Scream

A tee carries this face across the chest, where it reads at conversation distance and turns with every movement. The grim expression and the handwritten inscription sit well together on one shirt, the tonal blacks and pale highlights holding their shape against the fabric. Wear it with the crew neck and the design faces the room.