Sy nthe See CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION OF ETCHINGS AND LITHOGRAPHS BY J.- L. FORAIN MAY 4TH TO MAY 28TH, 1926 M. KNOEDLER & COMPANY 14 EAST FIFTY-SEVENTH STREET NEW YORK CITY J.-L. FORAIN “*Forarn’s etched line is like that of no other artist. On first making its acquaintance, one feels the shock of strangeness and surprise which is always caused by the first contact with an important innovation. It is so personal to the artist that it can never ‘“‘make a school’’; such attempts at imitating it as have hitherto been made are deplorable failures. The French master uses a pure, sharp line, keen and cleanly bitten, which can give the finest possible contour when it suits his purpose, but is often so complicated by twists and zigzags, crossings and tangles, that it seems almost a miracle that any recognizable form should emerge out of apparent chaos. But it does. These networks and zigzags are not so casual as the novice may think them. They are the work of a master hand, very sure of the effect it intends to produce, however unusual or even eccentric we may think the means employed. They somehow pro- duce the effect of mass, roundness and solidity where a certain amount of shading is required, while in very lightly sketched subjects such as Femme nue, assise sur son lit, de face (G. 42), or Le Repos du Modele, 2e planche (G. 57), the artist relies much more upon contour, and the modelling is obtained by means which appears almost miraculous, the white spaces producing their full effect by being exactly proportioned to the confining lines. It must at once be said that, as a rule, Forain’s technique can only be seen at its very best in his first states. His finest inventions are matured in his brain and spring to life complete and perfect. He rarely has the power of improving upon the first idea by subsequent refinements and alterations. The printing of the plates is of almost uniform excellence, though it varies very much according to the special requirements of the subject. To a large extent the plate is clean-wiped; sometimes a certain amount of tone is left over the whole; but the artist scarcely ever resorts to the trick of leaving ink on the surface in certain places. The impressions, oe rich in burr, of such a plate as L’ Avocat parlant au préivenu (G. 54) are superb. The colour of the ink used is very often bistre, pale or of a decidedly reddish tint, also deep brown, and black, or blue-black. The paper used is generally Van Gelder, in large sheets, giving an ample margin to the plate; occasionally old paper has been used, and also Japan. As to the number of impressions, there is no fixed rule or even habit, except that for some time the artist made a practice of having twenty-five copies of many of his plates printed by a professional printer after taking a few épreuves d’essai himself. The number issued, however, since he returned to the practice of printing his own plates, is often much smaller than twenty-five.”’ CampBELL Dopeson: The Etchings of Jean-Louis Forain (The Print-Collector’s Quarterly: Vol. VIII, No. I, pp. 2-36) a CATALOGUE ETCHINGS t La TRAITE DES BLANCHES Guérin26 Only State The subject was drawn upon the plate about 1886, but Forain did not bite it in until 1909, when an edition of 25 proofs was printed upon Holland paper. 2 Les coutorrs pu Patais Guérin 30 Second State: In the First State two or three proofs only were printed; in the Second State ‘‘un petit nombre d’épreuves.”’ 3 T&morns A L’ AUDIENCE (First Plate) Guérin 32 Trial proof: printed in sanguine Collection: Alfred Beurdeley ‘*Forain has always been, like Daumier, keenly interested in the law courts and those who frequent them, whether habitually in the exercise of their profession or on the rarer occasions when they appear there as parties to a suit or in the least enviable rdle, that of prisoner in the dock. We shall find that quite a number of his etchings bear such titles as, L’Avocat parlant au prévenu, Témoins & lV’ audience, Avocat compulsant un dossier, La Sortie de V’ audience. He dwells in most of these on the contrast between the helplessness of the widows and orphans or of some specimen of (in one sense or another) abandoned womankind, and the keen, hawk-like bearing of the lawyer whom their misfortunes provide with his daily bread. For utter tragedy nothing in his work is pom atable to the large early plate, Félle-Mere (G. 36). CampsELL DopGson 4 T&MOINs A L’ AUDIENCE (Second Plate) Guérin 33 Third State: Proof No. 2 of 25 impressions 5] 5 Danseuse ET Maitre p' HOTEL Guérin 34 Only State: Soft-ground etching and aquatint 6 Firtz-Meére (First Plate) Guérin 36 Only State: Proof No. 10 of 25 impressions Collection: Max Biach ‘For utter tragedy nothing in his work is comparable to the large early plate, Fille-Mere (G. 36).”’ 7 Firte-Mére (Second Plate) Guérin 37 First State Etching and aquatint. Three proofs only were printed of this fine plate. 8 Le Gros CIGARE Guérin 38 Only State: Soft-ground etching on zinc. ‘*Le gros Cigare is an admirable satire on the vulgar sensualist who plays a much larger part in Forain’s lithographs and cartoons than in the etchings.”’ CamPpBELL DopGsoNn 9 Témoins A L’auDIENCE (Third Plate) Guérin 4o Only State: Proof No. 4 of 25 impressions Collection: Max Biach 10 BAIGNOIRE AU THEATRE Guérin 41 Second State: The plate aquatinted Twelve impressions [6] 11 FEMME NUE, ASSISE SUR SON LIT, DE FACE Guérin 42 Only State: Twenty-five impressions ‘Another group of subjects consists of studies of the nude model, or of single figures not taking part in any definite action. The etching of a girl sitting on her bed (G. 42), in its frank simplicity and perfectly direct and successful technical execution, is one of the finest things in Forain’s cewovre.”’ CaMPBELL DopGson 12 Le RETOUR DE L’ ENFANT PRODIGUE (Third Plate) Guérin 46 Second State: Twenty-five impressions “It must have come as a surprise to many of M. Forain’s admirers, though not to his friends, to find him in 1909 abandoning this detached attitude towards religion, and suddenly—a very Saul among the prophets—choosing for the subjects of the most won- derful group of his etchings some of the most touching incidents in the Gospel story... . . There is something more than art, something beyond science in these etchings; the simple test of the effect that they produce on unsophisticated people, believers in Christianity but without any definite artistic faith, suffices to prove it.”’ CaMPpBELL DopGsoN 13, Le Bon SaMaARITAIN Guérin 49 Third State 14 Le PRévENu ET L ENFANT Guérin 52 Third State Collection: Max Biach **Le Prévenu et l enfant (G. 52), in which a tiny, chubby boy, lifted in his mother’s arms, recognizes his father in the dock and moves his little hand and foot in greeting, affords an agreeable con- trast to the rather grim contents of most of these studies of the tribunal. It is a case where, if the first state appears perfect in fA its presentment of all the essentials of the scene, yet the nu- merous additions made in the final state are quite harmonious and complete the picture successfully.’” Camppett Dopcson 15 L’AvocaT PARLANT AU PREVENU (Second Plate) Guérin 55 Second State: Proof No. 13 of twenty-five impressions 16 Lz repos pu Moves (First Plate) Guérin 56 First State 17 Le Catvarre (First Plate) Guérin 58 Second State At a later period Forain painted a picture of the same subject, but in reverse. The painting was reproduced in Figaro Illustré, 1902, in the issue devoted to Forain and his work. ‘Then follows another of Forain’s most original and beautiful plates, Le Calvaire (1909), which exists in two versions (G. 58, 59), differing little from one another except that in the first the sky is full of clouds, in the second clear. Both plates are large and spacious; Forain is fond of letting in plenty of air and light and giving his people room to move about in. The subject is, I think, without a precedent in religious art. There are no crosses; the only trace of the tragedy just enacted is the ladder held erect by the group of workmen on the right, who stand with heads bent in sympathetic reverence and sorrow while the Mater Do- lorosa, bowed with grief, is led away from the scene by two of her nearest and dearest. All our sympathies now are with her; the body of her Son, by whose cross she has watched so long, has been taken from her to the tomb. The men are just workmen of modern France; anything like a historical reconstruction of the scene with Oriental costumes, 4 la Tissot, would be as foreign to the master’s way of thinking as the classical drapery of Le Sueur or Le Brun.”’ CaMPBELL DopGson [8] 18 Lz Catvatrre (Second Plate) Guérin 59 First State Collection: Max Biach 19 La RouTE D’Emmaus Guérin 60 Second State, of three “Then follows quite a long series of etchings dealing with the journey to Emmatis and the supper with the two fellow- travellers, a favourite subject with Rembrandt. After theisolated Route d’ Emmatis (G. 60), of March, 1909, eleven plates (G. 92- 102) follow in quick succession between December, 1909, and March 1910, while the two versions of the subject that in his- torical order come last, Apres l’ Apparition (G. 81, 82), occupy an intermediate place, dating from November, 1909.”’ CampBELL DoDGson 20 A La TABLE DE jeu (First Plate) Guérin 71 Third State 21 A LA TABLE DE JEU (Second Plate) Guérin 72 First State: A few proofs only printed 22 La MADONE ET LES ENFANTS Guérin 73 First State: Fifteen impressions ‘The order in which I like to look at these New Testament etchings is that of the sacred narrative itself, taking a little license in the placing of the first La Madone et les Enfants (9.73), where the Holy Child, on His mother’s knee, bends forward to greet a group of three delightfully natural modern French children.”’ CampBELL DopGson LoJ 23 PAYsAGE DES ENVIRONS DE VERSAILLES Guérin 75 First State Collection: Alfred Beurdeley 24 FEMME NUE, A PLAT VENTRE SUR SON LIT Guérin 76 Third State: the plate enriched with dry-point 25 AVOCAT COMPULSANT UN DOSSIER Guérin 77 Third State: the shadows strengthened 26 Lz repos pu Mopete (Third Plate) Guérin 83 First State 27 FoRAIN AU BERET Guérin 87 First State "Forain au Béret (G. 87) is a dry-point, full of character, but some- what tantalizing in its incompleteness.’’ CamppetLt DopGson 28 La RENCONTRE SOUS LA VOUTE (First Plate) Guérin 100 First State Collection: Max Biach ‘In several plates, varying between an upright and an oblong shape, called La Rencontre sous la vote, we see the meeting of Christ with the two men whom He engages in conversation; the background of the scene is a charming little French village street, very lightly etched.”’ CampBELL DoDGsoNn [ 10 | 29 EvANOUISSEMENT A L’ AUDIENCE Guérin 106 First State 30 Le Curist porTANT sa Crorx (First Plate) Guérin 107 First State ‘‘Then come the various versions of the Bearing of the Cross (G. 107- 110), two in which a burly soldier pushes back the inquisitive mob, and two—one of them a small and beautiful dry-point—in which the satirical motive occurs of a beggar holding out his hat to Christ as He passes with His burden.”’ CamMpBELL DopGson 31 Pera (First Plate) Guérin 117 Second State ‘*He has not attempted as yet the great subject of the Crucifixion of our Lord, but he shows us in three very moving plates the Pieta or Lamentation beneath the Cross. In the first and second, a dry-point and an etching (G. 117, 118), the cross itself is seen; in the third there is nothing but the group, slightly varied, of four figures, including the dead Saviour. In all of them occur the quite novel and beautiful motive of the mother of our Lord bathing her Son’s brow with a sponge dipped in a basin. The austere figure of the Virgin, the face, still eloquent of suffering, of the dead Christ, and the impressive unity and balance of the whole group, are worthy of one of the great Italians of the quattrocento.’’ CaMPBELL DopGsoNn 32 La rouTE D’Emmaiis (Second Plate) First State 33 Le DEPART DE L’ENFANT PRODIGUE (Oblong Plate) Third State Collection: Alfred Beurdeley bard: 34 PorTRAIT DE L ARTISTE, REGARDANT UNE PLANCHE Second State 35 PoRTRAIT DE L ARTISTE, AU CHAPEAU BLANC 36 FEMME METTANT SON BAS Second State 37 La Miracutéz A Lourpss (First Plate) First State ‘*La Miraculée is a subject that has been twice etched. In the first, and better, version the woman who has risen from her stretcher and flung down the crutch that she needs no longer, has her hands clasped upon her bosom; she stands up very rigid, and her face has the tense, hysterical look of a woman who is going through an experience which in fervent belief she attributes to a supernatural cause. There is a sense of excited movement in all the surrounding figures, and in the slight suggestion of a crowd of pilgrims following a processional banner in the background.”’ CampBELL DopGson 38 La Mrracurée A Lourpss (Second Plate) Second State ‘“The second etching, in which the heroine holds out her arms at her sides, is fine also, but the chief figure interests us less, though the subordinates are drawn with much more detail and are full of character and animation.’’ CAMPBELL DopGson 39 La Communion pes Marapes A LourpEs Dry-point First State Collection: Marcel Guérin [12] “Another group of etchings of the utmost interest dates from 1912. It deals with a series of incidents in the life of pilgrims to Lourdes, which seem to have made a great impression on the master, who returned to this subject again in a very large and striking lithograph which served as an affiche for the Eucharistic Congress held at Lourdes in July, 1914, immediately before the War. “There are at least nine, possibly more, of these Lourdes etchings, which include some of Forain’s finest plates.”’ CAMPBELL DopGson 40 Ls BRANCARDIERS, LouRDES First State Collection: Alfred Beurdeley “It is eight or nine years since the Lourdes set was etched, and though a few lithographs have appeared in the meantime, of which Le Tremplin (two versions) is the most notable, I believe that M. Forain has not definitely published any more etchings. He has etched, but printed only in small numbers, a few of the wonderful compositions that appeared during the war in the pages, first of L’Opinion, then of Le Figaro. La Borne Verdun), in two dry-point versions, large and small, Les Notables, Le Retour au Foyer, and Soldat qui sort de la tranchée, were included, in a few trial proofs, in the London exhibition of 1920.”’ CampBELL DopGsoNn 41 Les NoraBizs Only State 42 Le RETOUR AU FOYER First State 43, SOLDAT QUI SORT DE LA TRANCHEE First State era] LITHOGRAPHS ‘In THE period which witnessed the production of these many series of satirical cartoons, Forain was already actively engaged in one of the two branches of original graphic art in which he excels, lithography. It is not very clear when he actually began to use the' process, and none of the litho- graphs are dated, but I believe I shall not be very wide of the mark if I say a little earlier than 1890. Down to the date (1910) of the appearance of M. Marcel Guérin’s illustrated catalogue, ‘J-. L. Forain Lithographe,’ 89 lithographs, including five posters, had been recorded, and some few rarities, undescribed, have since been discovered. The finest existing collections, in all probability, of these much prized lithographs is that in the Dresden Kupferstichkabinett, brought together with loving care and perseverance by Max Lehrs, who discerned at a very early stage their unusual excellence and had the foresight to acquire a large collec- tion before the prices had made such an acquisition impossible. So many of the lithographs exist only in a few trial proofs that the number of collections that are at all extensive is very limited, and these are chiefly in private ownership in Paris.”’ CAMPBELL DoDGsSON 44 CHEZ L’HUISSIER Guérin 3 Only State. Proof No. 44 of fifty impressions Collection: Max Biach 45 UNE SalsIz Guérin 4 Only State. Proof No. 4 of ten impressions Collection: Max Biach This lithograph was reproduced in Figaro Illustré, in 1902, in the special issue devoted to Forain and his work. 46 Rue Larritte Guérin 6 Only State. Proof No. 14 of fifty impressions This lithograph was reproduced in Figaro Illustré, in 1902, in the special issue devoted to Forain and his work. The picture dealer is a portrait of M. Salvador Mayer. [ 14 ] 47 La LoGE DE La DANSEUSE (Second Plate) Guérin 20 First State ‘“Trés rare’’ Collection: Marcel Guérin 48 La FricTION AU GANT DE CRIN Guérin 21 Lithotint Collection: Max Biach 49 TRoIs DESSINS SUR UNE FEUILLE Guérin 24 Third State Collection: Alfred Beurdeley 50 FEMME A SA TOILETTE AVEC SA FEMME DE CHAMBRE (First Plate: oblong) Guérin 30 First State: about fifteen impressions Collection: Max Biach 51 En Grice Guérin 60 Only State Done for an album of prints by various artists, which M. Vollard planned to publish, but which never was issued. 52 DANSEUSE ACCOTEE CONTRE UN PORTANT (AVEC DES FIGURANTS ) Guérin 65 Only State. Proof No. 4 of six impressions (tiré a six epreuves forain No. 4, in the autograph of the artist) Collection: Alfred Beurdeley Eady 53 Le CurisT DEPOUILLE DE Ses VETEMENTS No. 14 of twenty-five impressions | 54 Le TRempxin (M. Cartiaux) First Plate “It is eight or nine years since the Lourdes set was etched. . . . A few lithographs have appeared in the meantime, of which Le Tremplin (two versions) is the most notable.”’ CaMPBELL DopGson 5§ Merz: Le Bocuse Exputsé No. 22 of forty-five impressions 56 Merz: Le Batser au Drargzau No. 22 of forty-five impressions 57 AVOCAT POURCHASSE No. 8 of forty impressions 58 CoNnsEIL JURIDIQUE No. 28 of forty impressions 59 SUSPENSION D’ AUDIENCE No. 17 of forty impressions 60 GrouPE DE JovEuRs A LA TABLE DE JEU No. 22 of forty impressions 61 Le Decaveé No. 9 of forty impressions 62 SALLE DE JEU No. 21 of forty impressions [ 16 ] eT ee ae i 553 ie — SIDE PEE ee Cm cy ss