Private Dining Room Scene (horizontal plate) c. 1905

Jean-Louis Forain made this print, sometime in his career, of a private dining room scene. I love the way he just goes for it, you know? No fuss, just scratchy lines that build up this whole sordid little world. Look at the skirt of the standing woman, how it's all these furious, diagonal marks. It's almost like he's angry at her, or maybe at the situation itself. And then there's the guy at the table, all smug and bloated, with a bottle of wine next to him. Forain really nails that feeling of being trapped in a moment, a kind of claustrophobia made worse by the loose, frantic energy of the marks. It makes me think of Daumier, another artist who wasn't afraid to get down and dirty with his subjects. Both of them remind us that art doesn't have to be pretty or perfect. Sometimes, it's more interesting when it's a little rough around the edges.