Honoré Daumier was born in Marseilles into the family of a glazier, who was fond of poetry and even wrote his own verses. In 1814, the family moved to Paris. Daumier started to study art in 1822 under the renowned artist and archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir. The financial situation forced Daumier to earn his living as a delivery boy, while at his spare time he sketched at the Louvre. About 1828, he learned the technique of lithography and began to work for small publishing houses. After the revolution of 1830 in the atmosphere of freedom of speech in France the role of mass media grew and the art of political satire flourished. In 1830, Daumier started to work for Philipon’s “Caricature” and “Le Charivari.”
A caricaturist famous for his scathing social commentary, Daumier earned his reputation primarily as a draughtsman. It was not until a posthumous exhibition held in Paris in 1878 that his paintings gained wide recognition. While Daumier’s political cartoons are often pointed—savagely precise in their references and implications—many of his paintings rely on ambiguity and nuance. This unfinished composition has been variously identified as a dramatic scene of escape and a mundane illustration of a house painter at work. With its bold, graphic style and equivocal subject, this painting is among the most shockingly modern pictures produced in the mid-nineteenth century.
For more biographical notes, and for earlier works, see part 1 also.
This is part 2 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1836-41 Robert Macaire
Robert Macaire is a fictional character, an unscrupulous swindler, who appears in a number of French plays, films, and other works of art. In French culture he represents an archetypal villain. He was principally the creation of an actor, Frédérick Lemaître, who took the stock figure of "a ragged tramp, a common thief with tattered frock coat patched pants" and transformed him during his performances into "the dapper confidence man, the financial schemer, the juggler of joint-stock companies" that could serve to lampoon financial speculation and government corruption.
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| 1836 No.1. Bertrand, j'adore l'industrie… colour lithograph 26 x 33 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1836 No.19. Robert Macaire au restaurant hand-coloured lithograph |
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| 1837 La fortune fait oublier les amies. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 La part du lion. colour lithograph 26 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.22. Le pail du Lion hand-coloured lithograph |
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| 1837 No.24. Cabriolets en actions. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.28. Bureau de remplacemens militaires. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.35. Robert Macaire Schismatic. colour lithograph on wove paper 23.4 x 22.4 cm ( image ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1837 No.38. Chaud! Chaud! Bertrand, faut pousser à la vente de la marchandise, faut battre la grosse caisse, faire la parade, attirer l’attention du jobard… colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.47. L'Agent de change après la Bourse. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.50. Abus de l'article 24 du code civil. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library |
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| 1837 No.58. Explotation de l'amitié. colour lithograph 35 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1837 No.69. Fais bien attention! colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 Monsieur Daumier, your Robert-Macaire series is delightful… lithograph with colouring The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1838 No.64. Robert Macaire in conversation with Bertrand lithograph 35.8 x 27.2 cm ( sheet ) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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| 1838 No.75. Le Début colour lithograph 35 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.76. C’est tout de même flatteur d’avoir fait tant d’élèves! Mais c’est embétant,… colour lithograph 36 x 34 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.77. L’Artiste Robert-Macaire colour lithograph 35 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.87. Brevet d'invention, capital 3 millions colour lithograph 35 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1838 Croquis d'Expressions (Sketches of Expressions):
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| 1838 No.18. D’ailleurs nous ne serions pas heureux ensemble. je suis extrêmement jalouse voyez-vous. colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.19. ( A part ) Dieu!...Que tu es donc laid!... lithograph 23 x 33 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.26. Appuyez fort, ça fait rentrer la bosse... colour lithograph 24 x 33 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.27. Le Président impatienté) Au fait, maitre Barbotteau, au fait!… colour lithograph 27 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.31. La maman - Est-il gentil à manger son sucre d'orge! Si on ne dirait pas un homme de vingt ans pour la raison! Je veux qu’il soit avocat. colour lithograph 27 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.39. Allons, baisez ce maître, tout de suite... colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1838 Doubles Faces (Double Faces):
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| 1838 No.6. A 30 ans lithograph 24 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.6. A 30 ans lithograph 24 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.6. 3 a 60 ans hand coloured lithograph 24 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1838 No.6. 3 a 60 ans hand coloured lithograph 24 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1838 La Caricature Provisoire (The Provisional Caricature):
This weekly newspaper was founded by Charles Philipon. The first edition appeared on November 1, 1838. Later on, the title was changed to "La Caricature, revue morale, judiciaire, littéraire, artistique, fashionable et scénique". Another change of name omitted the word "morale" and became: "La Caricature, revue satirique des modes, des théâtres, de la musique, des tribunaux et de la littérature". The last edition appeared on December 13, 1843.
133 lithographs by Daumier were printed in La Caricature Provisoire, appearing both with and without text. Prints carrying no titles of series have later on been rejected. Most of them were however printed at a later stage in the “Charivari” and were attributed to different series with the aim of completing them. Among those were: "Types Parisiens", "Moeurs Conjugales", "Revue Caricaturale", "Vulgarités", "Caricatures du Jour", and many more.
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| 1839 No.23. …Pas Fameux? N'est-ce pas!!… lithograph on newsprint |
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| 1839 No.28. Intérieur d'un Omnibus. lithograph on newsprint |
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| 1839 No.33. Il y a pourtant des gens qui ressemblent à ça ?... lithograph 27.8 x 35.8 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1839 Émotions Parisienne (Parisian Emotions):
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| 1839 Ces Messieurs pour aller dîner en ville sont forcés de passer devant leur bottier. colour lithograph 26 x 18 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.3. J'ai trois sous! colour lithograph 35 x 28 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.5. Écoutez donc municipal! je me suis marié hier! je rentre de ma noce et je vais me coucher!… colour lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.8. Cabriolet là M'sieu, là M'sieu. - je n'ai pas seulement de quoi aller à pied colour lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.10. Fichtre! Que ces êtres-là sont sciants! colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.12. Avoir perdu sa demi tasse au Domino et sa bourse dans la rue. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.16. Garçon! - voilà! - mais il y a cinq quarts d'heure que je vous demande un beifsteack et que vous me dites voilà; je veux manger autre chose. colour lithograph 34 x 25 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.19. Le dégraisseur en plein vent. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1840 No.27. C'est unique! j'ai pris quatre tailles, juste comme celles là dans ma vie; Fifine ma première!… colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1840 No.28. Eh te v'là mon pauvre fieu! Comme te vlà beau! Viens donc baiser ton père!... colour lithograph 33 x 24 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1839 La Journee du Célibataire (Bachelor's Day):
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| 1839 No.1. 7 heures du matin. lithograph 35 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.2. 8 heures du matin. lithograph 34 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.4. 10 heures du matin lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.5. 11 heures du matin lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.8. 2 heures - le gouter d'Azor lithograph 35 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.10. 5 heures du Soir. lithograph 35 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1839 No.12. 9 heures du soir lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1839-47 Les Baigneurs (Bathers):
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| 1839 No.11. Excusez, regard’ donc la grosse Fifine qu’on aurait juré que c’était une Vénus... ah ben en v’la un déchet! colour lithograph 25 x 34 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public LIbrary, MA |
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| 1840 No.15. Dites donc, pere Coquardeau, il est joliment frais–Pardine! j’crois bien lithograph on newsprint 19.6 x 25.1 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1841 No.19. La Lecon à Sec lithograph on newsprint |
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| 1842 No.26. Attention, Gargouillet, v’la le bourgeois qui passe avec son epouse… lithograph on heavy wove paper 20.2 x 25.5 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1847 No.2. Dans l'été ce n'est qu'ici que réellement je me trouve bien. colour lithograph 25 x 34 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1847 No.7. La planche démontrée par le précepte et par l'exemple. colour lithograph 26 x 34 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1847 No.8. Les Baigneuses prudentes lithograph on newsprint National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1847 No.15. Elle a encore tout d'même une jolie taille madame Coquardeau! colour lithograph 26 x 35 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |