In a Private Room (first plate) 1909

Jean-Louis Forain pulled this print, called In a Private Room (first plate), sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. It’s all gossamer lines and nervous energy. The beauty of printmaking lies in its directness, and Forain doesn’t hold back. The image feels immediate, like a fleeting glance, a captured moment, straight from the artist’s eye to the plate. The woman, perhaps caught in a state of undress, is rendered with a flurry of strokes, while the man beside her, smoking a cigarette, is more solidly defined. Look closely at the woman’s hair. It’s a chaotic scribble, a mass of tangled lines that somehow conveys both texture and movement. That one mark speaks to the power of suggestion, the way a simple gesture can evoke so much. You can see hints of Daumier here, and maybe even a touch of Toulouse-Lautrec. But Forain’s voice is uniquely his own. It’s like a conversation, an echo, a remix. Art’s not about answers, it’s about asking questions, together.