En 1871 c. 1914 - 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing, En 1871, using graphite, and maybe some charcoal, on paper. It’s all about the process here: the sketchy lines, the rubbed-in shadows – it’s like we’re seeing the artist thinking. There’s a lot of ambiguity and incompleteness in the drawing, like the scene is still forming. Look at the figure on the right, the head in his hand. The shading around him almost suggests a ghostly, spectral presence and it’s a beautifully delicate area of the image, built up with repeated applications of the medium. It speaks to the trauma of war, and the lingering pain and the unfinished business of the national mood at the time. I’m reminded of Kathe Kollwitz and her stark, emotionally charged prints and drawings. Both artists deal with the human cost of conflict, inviting us to contemplate the ambiguities and complexities of the human condition.