The Return Home c. 1915

Jean-Louis Forain made "The Return Home" using etching, and looking at it, I think it really shows the physical process of artmaking. It’s all in the line, right? This super delicate, almost scratchy line that creates a sense of movement and weariness. The figures seem to emerge from the ground. Check out the way Forain uses hatching and cross-hatching to build up shadows and volume. The marks feel tentative, searching, like he’s feeling his way through the composition. There’s a vulnerability to it that I find really compelling. And then that empty, scumbled sky! It makes you think about how much is left unsaid. Forain doesn’t give us all the answers. He leaves space for our own interpretations, our own emotional responses, and that’s what makes it so affecting, I think. You know, this reminds me a bit of Daumier’s lithographs. Both artists were interested in capturing the grit and reality of everyday life.