1852 -1931 · Reims, Paris, Opera, racetracks and courts

Incisive line, abrupt framing and social observation make Jean-Louis Forain a keen chronicler of modern Paris.

Jean-Louis Forain was born in Reims in 1852 and grew up in Paris. He trained with Jacquesson de la Chevreuse, Gérôme and Carpeaux, frequented the Louvre then became closer to Degas, Manet and the impressionist circle. Invited to impressionist exhibitions from 1879 to 1886, he shared with Degas a taste for backstage, dancers, cafés, races and framing which seemed captured on the spot. But Forain developed a more satirical voice. A designer for the press from the 1870s, notably in Le Courrier français, Le Figaro and later Le Rire, he condensed a social situation into a few lines, a posture or an exchange of glances. At the racetrack and at the Races Longchamp shows less competition than the circulation of money, appearances and the desire to be seen. The Foyer à l'Opéra and Après la danse reveal the ambiguous relationships between spectacle, power and commerce. In correctional and court scenes shift his gaze towards justice, poverty and inequality. His often muffled palette, his rapid silhouettes and his deliberately incomplete spaces give the paintings the energy of a drawing. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. After 1900, his work also took on a more serious religious and social tone. During the First World War, he participated in camouflage and then produced patriotic images. Died in Paris in 1931, Forain left paintings, pastels, watercolors, engravings and thousands of drawings where modernity can be read in gesture as well as in the criticism of morals. The "Jean-Louis Forain" selection notably compares Au champ de courses and Le Buffet. His reading favors atmosphere.

Forain does not describe the whole scene: he chooses the gesture which betrays, the look which negotiates and the emptiness which transforms the moment into judgment.