Les Francs-Tireurs 1915

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen made "Les Francs-Tireurs" with what looks like crayon or conte, and it's just *seething* with feeling. You can almost see him hunched over the paper, hatching those quick, furious lines. I imagine Steinlen, in the thick of it, trying to make sense of the world, you know? What does it mean to be human when all this horror is going on? Those lines aren't just marks on paper, they’re like…scratches of doubt, or maybe even anger. And that stark, raw surface—it's not pretty, but it’s honest. Look at the way he's rendered the figures; they’re all hunched over, defeated—except for the standing figures of the man and boy, who are still together and supporting each other. All those strokes, all that darkness, is a language of emotion. Painters have always looked at each other, you know, and this reminds me of the way that Goya used mark making to talk about conflict. It's like they’re both in this conversation across time, shouting into the void with charcoal and ink, trying to make sense of it all.