At the Gambling Table (first plate) 1909

This is Jean-Louis Forain’s etching, At the Gambling Table. What I love about prints is the process – the artist is so present, but the marks are indirect, almost accidental. Forain's lines seem shaky and full of doubt, but somehow he captures the whole mood. Look at the way the ink hovers on the paper, giving a sense of lightness, of ephemeral movement, as if this is a fleeting moment, capturing the intensity of the figures around the table, the concentration, the anxiety. The faces are just quickly defined by sketchy lines – not a lot of detail – but somehow they still feel very expressive. That frenetic mark-making reminds me a bit of Toulouse-Lautrec. Both were interested in similar subject matter: the entertainment industry, the nightlife, and the people who inhabited it. But where Lautrec can feel polished and even glamorous, Forain is rougher, more direct, and a little more unsettling. Forain leaves us with ambiguity, which I think is what good art should do.