39. Jean-Louis Forain
(1852-1931)

Le Calvaire (2e planche)

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Forain, Le Calvaire (2e planche)

Le Calvaire (2e planche)

Etching and drypoint, 1909 (?), 400 x 495 mm., Guérin 59 i/ii(?), Faxon 32. Fine impression in brown-black with plate tone and false biting (?) on Van Gelder Zonen laid paper with large, full margins, signed in pencil and annotated “1er état.” Despite the annotation, no second state is known. Forain began his artistic career as a caricaturist, a bit later, as an Impressionist painter. His etchings of the time were in that latter vein and similar to those of many of his contemporaries. In later years there was a shocking change of a two-fold nature: he developed, on large plates, a rapid, slashing style of etching and drypoint, frequently directed toward his customary subjects of legal scenes and the demi-monde; but he also produced a body of work of serious and individually conceived religious scenes. The image here is easily recognizable -- but there is no cross, no body of Christ, merely a ladder, a group of respectful workmen in modern dress, and Mary, led from the scene by two female companions. It is an absolutely unique conception of Calvary and powerful beyond words.