A Versailles juillet 1919 II c. 1919

Jean-Louis Forain drew A Versailles juillet 1919 II, with crayon and gray wash on cream laid paper. The gray, almost sepia tones are simple. But they create a certain mood, right? I wonder what it must have felt like to be Forain in July 1919. Picture him in his studio, hunched over a desk like this one, wrestling with the weight of the world. This is not a portrait of joy. It’s a sketch of the crushing weight of a historical moment. The feather in the inkwell is practically screaming. It is a metaphor for the artist as scribe. But a scribe of what? History? Feeling? The man’s crossed arms seem to contain him in on himself, but the scratchy lines of crayon imply an internal turmoil. Forain knew Daumier, another artist who understood the relationship between line and emotion. Art is never just a statement; it’s always part of a longer conversation. It embraces ambiguity, it expresses uncertainty. I hope this drawing inspires you to reflect on the messy business of being human.