Faubourg des Longues Peines (Demenagement) 1929

Curator: This etching by Georges Rouault, created in 1929, is titled "Faubourg des Longues Peines (Demenagement)", which translates roughly to "Suburb of Long Sorrows (Moving Out)." Editor: "Long Sorrows" is right. This piece feels like a storm cloud has permanently settled overhead. The heavy black ink gives it such a weight, like the city itself is collapsing inwards. Curator: Rouault was deeply influenced by his Catholic faith and concern for social justice. This print is an expressionist cityscape, part of a series exploring the marginal, often painful aspects of modern urban life. The “long sorrows” hints at the trials faced by those living on the edges. Editor: It hits me in the gut. The rough texture… it's not pretty, is it? There are two figures, pulling a cart – or being pulled by it? Their forms are obscured; it makes them anonymous, almost like specters haunting the scene. It's almost absurd in its somber mood! Curator: Consider how Rouault used the printmaking process itself. The dense crosshatching and the heavy biting of the plate add to the gritty realism and emotional intensity of the piece. This wasn't about idealizing the city; it was a commentary on the social conditions he witnessed. Editor: And it worked, powerfully so. There's an emotional depth in what others might dismiss as crude lines, it transforms a street view into something more intimate. Those shadowed doorways... You get the sense of untold stories crammed behind them. Makes you feel so aware and small... but with beauty. Curator: Absolutely. It makes me think about what purpose the art serves, reflecting the anxieties and social disparities of a period that might not have its place in our present collective memory. Editor: In a strange way, looking at this sorrow makes me glad I got to. An odd contradiction maybe? This print's starkness can still stir, more than a hundred years on!