Celui qui tira sur Clemenceau after 1919

Curator: This is Jean-Louis Forain's "Celui qui tira sur Clemenceau," a drawing made after 1919. My immediate impression is stark confinement; a figure entirely consumed by grief. Editor: The rapid, almost frantic marks of the charcoal certainly amplify that sense of desperation. Look how the hatching creates form; it's almost violently applied, especially around the figure’s hunched back and head. I wonder about Forain's choice of this medium. Curator: Given Forain's long-standing practice as a caricaturist and illustrator for newspapers, the relatively quick, reproductive medium of drawing allows for wider dissemination. It reflects on the public spectacle following the assassination attempt on Clemenceau, situating the work within the broader political discourse of its time. The piece speaks to societal instability in Post WWI France and the anxieties of a populace trying to recover. Editor: Interesting. I am also struck by the composition itself. The stark emptiness of the background is contrasted by the raw intensity of the figure's posture. The lines of the bed are the only other real element within the image, suggesting the figure is trapped within the space, or the event itself. Semiotically, the jail cell window in the top left isolates the man further. Curator: And think of the manual labor, too, even within the implied act depicted. This isn’t an idealized hero, but a person seemingly crushed under the weight of political violence, implicated through their association to a public figure’s misfortune. What of the public labor too? What sort of political dynamics were at play during the creation of the drawing? Editor: That reading of public labor adds a layer of understanding to the emotional narrative the drawing projects. For me, there’s no escaping how the lack of detail actually accentuates the drawing's expressive power, intensifying the mood. Curator: Ultimately, Forain offers an interpretation of contemporary political events and questions what becomes of the person caught in that political web. Editor: A compelling distillation, and an artwork where the method so perfectly reflects the mood it evokes. Thank you for shedding light on this complex drawing.