In the Trenches c. 1914 - 1919

Jean-Louis Forain made this image, In the Trenches, using monochrome shades to capture a somber, desolate scene. You know, looking at this, I can almost feel the weight of the charcoal, the pressure Forain must have applied to get those deep, dark shadows. It’s like he’s carving out the emotional landscape of war right there on the page. I imagine him, hunkered down somewhere not too far from the front line, sketching quickly, trying to capture a feeling, a moment, before it disappears. Those dark, almost frantic lines—they’re not just describing the scene, they’re embodying it. And that one figure in the background, seated and seemingly lost in thought. It adds such a layer of depth, doesn’t it? A sense of isolation, of waiting, of something unseen. It reminds me a little bit of Käthe Kollwitz, actually, but more journalistic, you know? It shows how artists borrow and respond to each other, creating these threads across time. Forain, Kollwitz, and so many more, all wrestling with how to express the unexpressable.