a) Scène de grève (3e planche) (Scene of a Strike) (third plate) (recto); b) Untitled (verso)

c. 1897

Jean-Louis Forain

Associated Names
Jean-Louis Forain

Artist, French, 1852 - 1931

This is a drawing of a crowd gathered around a man standing on an elevated platform. The scene depicts an event where a large group of people is focused intently on a central figure who appears to be addressing them. The group is huddled together, filling the lower half of the drawing and drawing the viewers' eyes toward the figure standing above them. The man at the center is depicted in a coat, hat, and holding an umbrella. Behind the gathering, an industrial landscape is visible with structures such as factories and smokestacks under a cloudy sky. The drawing uses soft shading and lines to convey both the mass of people and the industrial setting.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    a) lithograph on laid paper b) black lithographic crayon on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image (recto): 28.3 × 41.5 cm (11 1/8 × 16 5/16 in.)
    sheet: 39.2 × 55 cm (15 7/16 × 21 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3860.a-b

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Faxon 1982, no. 242

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Charles Sessler, Philadelphia); sold 3 December 1928 to Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • Social Concern and the Worker: French Prints from 1830-1910, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City; Cleveland Museum of Art; and Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1974, no. 12, repro.

Bibliography

1982

  • Faxon, Alicia Craig. Jean-Louis Forain: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Prints. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1982.

Inscriptions

"forain" lower right composition, in stone, artist's hand. "forain" lower right margin, graphite, artist's hand. Not dated. "La greve No 1" verso, lower right sheet, graphite, unknown hand.

Markings

"LRJ" verso, black stamped ink, (Lugt 1760b). "National Gallery of Art" verso, black stamped ink, (Lugt 1932d).

Watermarks

None.

Wikidata ID

Q64959486

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