Versailles juillet. La Germania signe… c. 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing on paper, probably sometime around the early 20th century. The squiggles of graphite, ochre, and sanguine chalk create a scene, capturing a fleeting moment in time. You can almost hear the scratch of the pen on paper. I imagine Forain in his studio, hunched over his work, observing the human comedy around him. It feels like the artist started with the figure on the left, and then added the other character afterwards. What are they doing? What are they signing? The figure on the right is really intense. I want to know more about his interior world. I wonder if he was influenced by Daumier, who also used simple materials to create something powerful. Ultimately, art is an ongoing dialogue. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, exchanging ideas across time. With each generation, artists borrow, steal, and transform, pushing the boundaries of human expression.