German Advance c. 1914 - 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing, German Advance, using pencil, and you can see the rapid marks and erasures, the ghosts of searching lines still visible on the page. Forain uses a kind of shorthand here, a gestural way of drawing that's all about immediacy. Look at how the figures emerge from the ground and negative space as if the artist is trying to grasp the image with their own hands. The energy of the line is so alive; you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the paper. The chaotic scribble in the background is particularly evocative; a quick, hazy attempt to convey the energy of battle. This reminds me of Daumier, another artist who used drawing to capture the raw energy of human experience, though Forain finds a starkness and immediacy, perfectly capturing the tension and uncertainty of war. It's this kind of messy, searching mark-making that makes the drawing feel so real.