Jean-Louis FORAIN
(1852 Reims – 1931 Paris)
Sketch portrait of Renoir – 1905
Crayon lithograph on japan paper. Signed and dated on the stone ‘forain, 8bre 1905’. Framed.
Size of sheet: 35 x 27.7 cm.
Guérin 1910, 79; Faxon 1982, 264; Johnson 53.
Only a few proofs were printed at the gallery of Ambroise Vollard.
-Sold.
Jean-Louis FORAIN: Portrait of Renoir
Forain was one of the most important artists of the turn of the century. Edgar Degas became a life-long friend of Forain and an important influence on his art. He introduced Forain to the Impressionist group in the late 1870s. The young artist befriended Edouard Manet and Auguste Renoir of whom he produced four lithographed portraits commissioned by Ambroise Vollard. This portrait could be compared with the later engraved portrait of Pierre Bonnard, also commissioned by Vollard. Renoir has the emaciated face of a man suffering from arthritis and severe rheumatism.