Jean-Louis Forain
France; 1852-1931
Les Coulisses de l'Opéra pendant la représentation d'Aida, c. 1898
pastel on paper; 45 x 31 inches
Gift of Leon Fromer, 1957
Jean-Louis Forain's evocative pastel drawing of a backstage encounter during a production of Aida reveals the influence of the artist's friend, Edgar Degas. Often sketching from the same model, they favored similar themes such as ballet dancers, the racecourse, and studies of the nude. Forain's work in turn inspired Manet and Cézanne, and he exhibited with the Impressionist painters on several occasions during the 1880s.