Avocat et Accusé (Counsel and Accused)
c. 1930
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color aquatint with etching on laid Arches paper
Dimensions
image: 45.3 × 58.5 cm (17 13/16 × 23 1/16 in.) plate: 47.7 × 60 cm (18 3/4 × 23 5/8 in.) sheet: 54.5 × 66.4 cm (21 7/16 × 26 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.4137
Art Historical Context
Jean-Louis Forain, a artist renowned for his incisive social commentary, captures the tension of the courtroom in *Avocat Accusé (Counsel and Accused)* created around 1930. Influenced by Edgar Degas and the Impressionist circle, Forain shifted in his later career to satirical depictions of French legal proceedings, critiquing the era's judicial system amid the interwar period's social unrest. This print likely portrays a dramatic confrontation between lawyer and defendant, reflecting Forain's fascination with human drama and moral ambiguity in justice. The work is a color aquatint with etchin...
About the Artist
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain was born Louis Henri Forain on October 23, 1852, in Reims, France, to a family of modest means; his father painted ornamental signs. The family relocated to Paris when he was eight, where young Forain developed a passion for drawing inspired by the sculptures of Reims Cathedral and the masters at the Louvre, which he began copying at age fourteen. He received drawing lessons from...