The Departure for Versailles c. 1919

Curator: This is Jean-Louis Forain’s drawing, "The Departure for Versailles," created around 1919. What strikes you first about it? Editor: There’s a somber mood hanging over the figures, a sense of weariness etched onto the seated woman's face. It almost feels ghostly because of the wispy lines, particularly surrounding the standing figures behind her. Curator: Forain was a master of capturing social realities, often focusing on the marginalized. Consider the implications of displacement implied by the title itself. "The Departure for Versailles" could signify the exodus of ordinary people seeking refuge or a new life amidst postwar upheaval, a direct result from the Treaty signed at Versailles in 1919. It hints at how political decisions at a global level inevitably impact on personal lives. Editor: The fact that it’s a drawing makes me consider the ready availability and humble character of pencil and paper and the work's proximity to major historical events, right after World War I, for example. The artist has carefully applied the material, especially in the contrasts of dark and light, yet the composition still seems incomplete or intentionally ephemeral. How much did the economic status of both artist and sitter affect artistic choice? Is it an observational sketch or a conceptual exploration? Curator: I’d argue the open quality of the medium, pencil on paper, reflects the unsettled, unresolved conditions in Europe in the late teens and early twenties. The Treaty promised peace but it reshaped social order and destabilized communities as a result. The rough line work contributes to its poignancy, doesn’t it? Editor: Indeed. Thinking of materiality, the texture of the paper and the deliberate weight of the pencil strokes around the figure of the seated woman point to artistic decisions related to how that figure may function within the work as a whole. How do the artistic techniques mirror or mediate this period of social rebuilding after so much violent destruction and forced relocation? Curator: The rapid pace with which a pencil sketch can be executed also suggests the artist responding in real time. In this drawing, Forain highlights the cost exacted on the human psyche by large-scale political maneuvering. Editor: The deliberate choice to highlight the seated woman underscores an intimacy not unlike one might see reflected in someone's personal sketchbook from that moment, as though glimpsed at the instant of its generation. A very telling view of this artist at this fraught turning point. Curator: A haunting glimpse, to be sure, that encapsulates both an immediate experience and broader historical currents.