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Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain

Jean-Louis Forain

French, 1852 - 1931
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Jean-Louis Forain was a French Impressionist painter and printmaker, working in media including oils, watercolour, pastel, etching and lithograph. Compared to many of his Impressionist colleagues, he was more successful during his lifetime, but his reputation is now much less exalted.

Forain was born in Reims, Marne but at age eight, his family moved to Paris. He began his career working as a caricaturist for several Paris journals including Le Monde Parisien and Le rire satirique. Wanting to expand his horizons, he enrolled at the École des Beaux Arts, studying under Jean-Léon Gérôme as well as another sculptor/painter, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Forain's quick and often biting wit allowed him to befriend poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine as well as many writers, most notably Joris-Karl Huysmans. He was one of only "seven known recipients" to receive a first edition of A Season in Hell directly from Rimbaud. He was the youngest artist to frequent and participate in the feverish debates led by Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas at the Café de la Nouvelle Athènes in Montmartre.

A follower and protégé of Degas, Forain joined the Impressionist circle in time to take part in the fourth independent exhibition in 1879; he participated in four of the eight Impressionist Exhibitions (1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886). Influenced by Impressionist theories on light and color, he depicted scenes of everyday life: his watercolors, pastels and paintings focused on Parisian popular entertainments and themes of modernity—the racetrack, the ballet, the comic opera and bustling cafés.

Forain was the most famous caricaturist of the Belle époque, and drew, among others, for the Figaro for more than 30 years. From 1898–1899 Forain worked as an illustrator for the weekly French magazine Psst...!, a satirical publication to promote the anti-Dreyfus.

Aside from being influenced by his friend of over fifty years, Edgar Degas, Forain was greatly influenced by Honoré Daumier, and his treatment of subjects in his drawings for publications such as Le Figaro and Le Courrier Francais are often reminiscent of Daumier's. In 1892 he published the first volume of La Comédie Parisienne, a collection of Forain's illustrations and commentary on the major political stories that disrupted France's Third Republic—such as the anarchic crisis and the Dreyfus affair. In 1891 Forain married the painter Jeanne Bosc with whom he had a son, Jean-Loup, born in 1895.

During the first World War, Forain's illustrations honored the patriotism of his contemporaries, and he enlisted in the Section de Camouflage under Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola. In his later years, Forain created numerous scenes of the Law Courts and other Parisian institutions plus social satire caricatures of late 19th and early 20th century French life.

In 1931, shortly before his death, he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He was one of France's most famous and revered artists during his time. He was, perhaps, most highly respected for his numerous drawings which chronicled and commented on Parisian city life at the end of the 19th century. Followers and admirers of Forain's work included Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

302 items

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Germania before the Judges

Germania before the Judges (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Grace!

Grace! (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Hospital Scene

Hospital Scene (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
In the Trenches

In the Trenches (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
La Borne, Verdun

La Borne, Verdun (c. 1916)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
La Guerre sous-Marine. L’ecole des Neutres

La Guerre sous-Marine. L’ecole des Neutres (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le Baiser du Drapeau

Le Baiser du Drapeau (1918)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le demobilise II

Le demobilise II (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le demobilise

Le demobilise (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le depart pour Versailles

Le depart pour Versailles (c. 1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le pas de l’oie – dans le sang

Le pas de l’oie – dans le sang (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le Peril Anarchiste

Le Peril Anarchiste (c. 1897)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le Poilu (French Soldier Writing Home)

Le Poilu (French Soldier Writing Home) (c. 1900)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le replis boche

Le replis boche (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Le retour du permissionnaire. -Tu Tombes a pie!

Le retour du permissionnaire. -Tu Tombes a pie! (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
L’Englise de leurs peres

L’Englise de leurs peres (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Les Allemandes sont partis

Les Allemandes sont partis (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Les notables

Les notables (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
L’heure des gothas

L’heure des gothas (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Looking for the Enemy

Looking for the Enemy (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Lost Illusions II

Lost Illusions II (probably 1918)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Lost Illusions

Lost Illusions (probably 1918)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
L’union sous le drapeau

L’union sous le drapeau (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
M. Clemenceau. La lettre du Cte Czernin

M. Clemenceau. La lettre du Cte Czernin (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Marshal Petain

Marshal Petain (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Men of Justice

Men of Justice (1921)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Mother and Child Visited by Soldier in Hospital

Mother and Child Visited by Soldier in Hospital (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Nach Paris. -moi aussi, chai des enfants

Nach Paris. -moi aussi, chai des enfants (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
Negotiations at the Trianon Palace, Versailles

Negotiations at the Trianon Palace, Versailles (c. 1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
News in the Trenches

News in the Trenches (c. 1914-1919)

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852 - 1931)
Drawings
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