During the Armistice c. 1914 - 1919

Curator: Welcome. Today, we're looking at a pencil drawing, During the Armistice, made circa 1914-1919, by Jean-Louis Forain. Artist: Oh, there's such palpable sorrow humming off this scene. Even though it's spare, nearly minimalist, I instantly felt drawn into the grief. What do you make of it? Curator: Forain created this piece during or shortly after World War One. It is a potent commentary on the war's human toll. You see a woman standing, her face tilted towards the sky, hands clasped as if in prayer or perhaps despair, as some people around her are crouching and two sketched persons at her sides. Artist: I do sense a glimmer of hope within her posture. I almost feel like I’m eavesdropping on her internal dialogue. I feel like I’m understanding what's she is mumbling towards hope while the other folks next to her feel distant, lost to a fog... or trauma, more likely. It's like a curtain of silence envelops them. Curator: Precisely, and it reflects the widespread emotional landscape of that time. The Armistice didn't magically erase the pain; instead, countless individuals had to navigate profound grief and an uncertain future, the loss. This drawing, I think, speaks to that unresolved tension. The figure of this mother may show a common icon present in media during and after war scenarios: it's painful in every time period and generation. Artist: Thinking about process, it makes sense to use such immediate materials to capture that intensity. Can you imagine trying to paint this sentiment? There’s an honesty to the pencil line. A rawness of this moment. Almost as if it has just been dug up. Curator: The rapid, almost unfinished quality is effective in communicating the immediacy and disruption of war. It resists romanticizing the subject and keeps the focus firmly on the emotional and human cost. I think it is impossible not to think of the mother on The Ghetto, the sculptor Meštrović did as well during this time... Artist: This drawing reminds me of what my grandpa once told me about losing his brother. You never quite close that chapter, and seeing it rendered so honestly… Well, that's a gift, even when it stings. Curator: Indeed. The drawing captures a moment, yet its themes remain relevant. Artist: Absolutely. Thank you for illuminating that connection for me, always shifting my perspective in thoughtful ways.