Pieta.

Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931) was a leading French painter, printmaker and illustrator of the 19th and 20th centuries. He exhibited with the Impressionists at the invitation of his mentor and close friend, Edgar Degas, in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th exhibitions (1879-1886). His ballet scenes show his awareness of Degas, while his courtroom scenes, exposing the cruelties of the legal system, owe much in their concept to Honoré Daumier. In turn, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec looked up to Forain. His illustrations particularly to books by his friend the notorious symbolist/decadent J.K. Huysmans brought considerable acclaim, while his bitingly witty cartoons for <em>Le Figaro</em> and <em>Le Courrier Francais</em> made him a household name. Additionally, his portrait lithographs of Auguste Renoir and Ambroise Vollard are described in his <em>Grove Art Online</em> entry as ‘brilliant’. The same source notes how ‘he resumed etching in 1902 but changed his subject matter to concentrate on religious and courtroom subjects of great drama and deep feeling, expressed with bravura technique’. Together with Huysmans, he regained his lost religious faith and this underpins the power of early 20th century etching/drypoints such as <em>Lourdes: Imploring before the grotto </em>(Te Papa 1952-0003-152), <em>Calvaire </em>(2015-0056-2) and several other prints in our collection.

This is the second state of the first plate of Forain's <em>Pieta, </em>where Forain strips the familiar theme and composition to its bare bones. The base of the Cross and the ladder are sketchily denoted in the background. Emphasis is instead on the grief of the three Marys. We cannot see their expressions, as Forain is impatient with pedantic realism. But we can acutely feel their emotions as the Virgin washes his body with water from the bowl held by the Mary Magdalene; another distraught figure is sitting detached at the left, probably the third Mary (of Clopas). Less is more; feel the pain; and keep the faith. This is Forain's moving message.

See: Wikipedia, 'Jean-Louis Forain', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Forain

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   April 2018