Woman and Two Children with German Soldiers c. 1914 - 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made "Woman and Two Children with German Soldiers" with ink, slashing with the brush to describe the figures, their clothes, their postures. It’s all in the wrist, isn’t it? I can imagine Forain’s looking, his seeing, his feeling, and then his mark making, each stroke accumulating to communicate the stark terror of war. The marks describing the woman are dark and heavy, communicating her grief and terror. The marks describing the soldiers are much less detailed, dehumanized even. They stand further back and to the side, and seem to float on the surface. Forain’s painting sits within a lineage of art that uses gestural abstraction to convey emotion and narrative. There is a community of artists who are moved to pick up a brush and converse through time, connecting across generations, responding to historical events with a personal touch. Painting has a life, a past, a future; it is a place for possibility and change.