Au front de Vincennes. Bolo pacha c. 1914 - 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing, Au front de Vincennes. Bolo pacha, with what looks like charcoal or conte crayon. The strokes are loose, giving it a real sense of immediacy, like he's capturing a fleeting moment. The marks build up to create these figures, but there's still so much light and space around them. The texture in this piece is all about the grain of the paper and the way the charcoal grabs onto it. You can almost feel the roughness. And that limited palette – just blacks and grays – it really amps up the somber mood. I'm drawn to the way Forain uses these soft, smudgy lines to create the shadows on the figures. It's like he's not just drawing what he sees, but also hinting at what's hidden, what's weighing on these characters. Forain's got this knack for capturing the grit and drama of everyday life, you can see some echoes of Daumier in the way he depicts social issues, and you know, art is all about that back-and-forth, riffing on each other's ideas and making something new.