FORAIN, Jean-Louis
French painter, lithographer, and caricaturist. One of the foremost etchers of his day, Forain is best known for his political cartoons and social satires, particularly of the worlds of theater and courtroom. His work combines the realism of Manet with the satire of Daumier, it enlivened a large number of publications, including Vie moderne, Cravache, Parisien, Figaro, and the New York Herald. In 1898 he founded with Caran d’Ache the short-lived Psst.
He exhibited in four of the Impressionist exhibitions between 1879 and 1886. Forain’s palette darkened as he became older, is work was generally of a somber range of colour similar to Daumier’s.
He had been a friend and disciple of Degas, and contributed to four of the last Impressionist exhibitions 1879-1886. But his subjects, and the way in which he treated them, became more sombre after the turn of the century. In his later years after 1909 he produced mainly religious lithographs and etchings.
