The Model's Rest (fourth plate) 1909

Jean-Louis Forain made this etching, The Model’s Rest, and it's all about the scratchy, raw energy of mark-making. It's like he’s carving the image out of thin air. I imagine Forain hunched over the plate, acid fumes stinging his eyes, totally absorbed. The model isn’t posed so much as caught, relaxing from posing, like a cat, unknowable. There's a vulnerability in the scene, a tension between the artist, the model, and the act of creation. What's on that paper? The cross-hatching creates volume, making the space feel intimate, almost claustrophobic, pulling us into the room with them. This isn’t just a picture, it’s a felt experience, and it’s like Forain's saying, “Hey, this is what it’s like to be an artist, a human, trying to capture something real.” And that's what art is, really.