My Cock (Mon coq)
c. 1944 - 1946
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
engraving on laid paper [state II]
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1946.11.59
Art Historical Context
Joseph Hecht's *My Cock (Mon coq)*, created around 1944–1946, captures the artist's masterful touch in engraving on laid paper—this is state II, a progressive proof showing refinements in the plate before final printing. Hecht, a Polish-born French printmaker renowned for his precise, modernist line work, often drew from everyday subjects with a poetic intensity. Here, the title's playful bilingual nod ("Mon coq" meaning "my rooster" in French) likely depicts a proud farmyard bird, symbolizing vitality amid wartime austerity. Produced during the final years of World War II, when Hecht navigat...