The Return Home c. 1915

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing, The Return Home, by etching lines into a copper plate. Imagine him bent over the plate, making marks that capture a scene of a woman and two children. The image comes into being, shifting and emerging, through his intuition. The lines are sparse but evocative. I sympathize with Forain, imagining him wanting to capture the feeling of weariness and resilience in this family’s return. See how thin the lines are? And yet they suggest the weight of the luggage the family carries. I wonder if Forain was thinking of Daumier, another artist who captured the lives of ordinary people with such empathy. Artists are always in conversation with each other, riffing off of one another's work. In his gestures, he communicates a feeling of quiet determination. Ultimately, artmaking embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations of meaning.