Pietà 1910

Jean-Louis Forain made this drawing, 'Pietà' with graphite, or maybe charcoal—something about the dry, dusty marks suggests charcoal to me. I can almost feel Forain's hand moving across the paper as he coaxes these figures into being. You know, there’s a vulnerability in the softness of the lines, they don't insist on being seen, they kind of emerge from the page. I wonder if he felt a sense of empathy for his subjects? There is a tradition in painting where the artist draws upon the language of suffering and anguish and translates this into a new visual language. It becomes less about what is depicted, and more about the experience of depiction, which, in turn, helps us find new ways to engage with suffering. It is, in a way, an act of mourning in and of itself. When you look at a work like this, remember that it is part of a bigger conversation that artists have been having for centuries.