The German Expelled 1919

Jean-Louis Forain sketched ‘The German Expelled’ with graphite on paper, a simple medium for a powerful message. Look at the heavy, dark lines that build the soldier’s coat, almost as if the artist is trying to trap him on the page. I imagine Forain, pen in hand, watching this scene unfold and feeling like he has to capture it, this moment of displacement and, let’s be honest, inhumanity. You can see the man being expelled has a face, unlike the facelessness of his expeller. The way Forain uses line, thick and urgent, it’s like he’s saying: ‘I see you, I recognize your suffering.’ It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz’s prints, this way of using a simple medium to convey deep empathy and political commentary. Artists are always responding to their time, holding up a mirror to society, and saying, ‘Look, this is what’s happening. What are we going to do about it?’