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| Honoré Daumier by Charles-François Daubigny |
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 see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 - 12 also.
This is part 13 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1856 La Pisciculture (Fish Farming):
1856 Les Agréments des Chemins de Fer (Approvals of the Railways):
1856 Les Faiseurs d'Affaires (Business Makers):
1856 Paris l’hiver (Paris in Winter):
1857 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1858 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1858-59 En Chine (In China):
1856 La Pisciculture (Fish Farming):
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| 1856 No.1. Examen du fruit incestueux d'une carpe et d'un savant. lithograph 27.8 x 36.2 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.2. Éducation des poissons savans du Collège de France lithograph 28 x 36 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.3. Perfectionnement de l'éducation des poissons savans du collège de France. lithograph 28 x 36.4 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.5. Prenez garde !...... ne les agacez pas trop... lithograph 28 x 26 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.6. Voyez-vous mes deux truites ? - Non.... pas très bien. lithograph 28 x 36 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1856 Les Agréments des Chemins de Fer (Approvals of the Railways):
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| 1856 No.1. Intérieur d'un wagon de troisième classe pendant l'hiver. hand-coloured lithograph 23.3 x 24.6 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1856 No.2 Voyageurs appréciant de moins en moins les… hand-coloured lithograph 23.2 x 34.1 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
1856 Les Faiseurs d'Affaires (Business Makers):
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| 1856 No.1. - Je lance ma grande affaire... le moment en est venu... lithograph 27 x 34.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.2. Magnifique projet d'un chemin de fer aérien, qui reliera le Panthéon aux buttes Montmartre... lithograph 28 x 36.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1856 No.3. - Ça baisse toujours !... hand-coloured lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1856 Paris l’hiver (Paris in Winter):
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| 1856 No.1. Ça ne fait rien, c'est une bien jolie invention que le macadam! colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA * * * * * |
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| 1856 Third Class Carriage oil on panel 26 x 33.9 cm De Young / Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA |
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| 1856-57c The Loge ( In the Theatre Boxes ) oil on panel 24.1 x 30.7 cm The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD |
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| 1856-57c The Schoolmaster and the Drowning Child pen and black ink and grey wash, gouache and black chalk 28.7 x 25.6 cm The Morgan Library and Museum, New York |
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| 1856-60 A Good Vintage 22.1 x 29.5 cm Stockholm Nationalmuseum, Sweden |
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| 1856-60 At the Theatre ( The Melodrama ) oil on canvas 97.5 x 90.4 cm Bayerische Staatsgemädesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich |
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| 1856-60 The Singing Couple oil on canvas 37 x 28.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| 1856-60c Theatre Audience oil on panel 23.6 x 32.7 cm National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo |
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| 1856-62 Chanteurs de rue oil on panel 24.2 x 25.4 cm Private Collection |
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| 1856c French Theatre oil on wood 25.9 x 35 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1856c In the Studio of an Artist conté crayon and grey wash, heightened with white, on paper 8.3 x 9.8 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Bsoton, MA |
1857 Actualités (Current Affairs):
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| 1857 No.383 Danger de porter des jupes-ballons... lithograph 25.5 x 36.4 cm ( sheet ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1857 No.399, La dernière semaine avant l'ouverture du salon de peinture... colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1857 No.400. Abusant de la permission... colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1857 No.412. Réapparition des Tritons sur le bord de l'Océan. lithograph 28.7 x 40 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.416. Le Thé Foin. lithograph 28 x 35.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.419. La crinoline finissant par être soupçonnée. lithograph 28 x 36.2 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.422. Bé sûr qu'elle mange trop c'te dame, pour avoir engraissé autant qu'ça. lithograph 29.1 x 39.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.430. Le nouvel étendard des blanchisseuses. lithograph 27.5 x 38.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.431. - J'aimerais autant voir un ouragan se promener dans mon jardin... lithograph 27.5 x 38.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. lithograph |
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| 1857 No.437. - Saprelotte ! si les femmes continuent à porter des jupons en acier,… lithograph 38.6 x 27.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 No.438. - C'est moi, qui r'grett'rai c'te mode là... lithograph 27.5 x 3.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1857 The Butcher 55.9 x 45.1 cm cm Harvard Art Museums, Fogg Museum. Cambridge, MA |
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| 1857-58 The Reading oil on canvas 32 x 41 cm Scharf Collection, Walther, Ev & René, Germany |
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| 1857-63c The Print Collector oil on cradled panel 42.3 x 33 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1857c Four Heads oil on panel 10.8 x 25.4 cm The Burrell Collection, UK |
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| 1857c The Reading oil on panel 27 x 35 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
1858 Actualités (Current Affairs):
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| 1858 No.479. Passager ayant payé sa place pour se rendre à New-Yorck, sur le ‘Leviathan’, et attendant la mise à l’eau du navire!... lithograph 19.8 x 25.6 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1858 No.500. Aspect de la rue Lacépède, depuis qu'on s'y livre à la chasse au serpent. colour lithograph 27 x 33 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1858 No.520. C'est singulier, rien ne reprend à la bourse, pas même les marronniers! colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1858 No.542. Not' maître n'est plus marquis...hi! hi!! hi!!! lithograph 20.6 x 26.3 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1858 No.543. Une Baronne Débaronnée lithograph 20.3 x 26.3 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1858 No.556. Monsieur Babinet informed by his porter of the arrival of the comet. lithograph 23 x 33 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1858 No.566. Le grand eunuque noir allant rendre compte au Sultan de la manière dont sont accueillis au sérail les projets de réformes économiques. colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1858-59 En Chine (In China):
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| 1858 No.1. - Tiens…, voilà un nid d'hirondelles… lithograph |
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| 1858 No.2. - Eh ! ben… camarade… est-ce que ça n'vaut pas mieux que l'o…l'o…l'opium… lithograph |
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| 1858 No.3. Passant la revue des fumeurs d'opium. lithograph on newsprint 22.2 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1858 No.4. Cristi! qué malheur que je n'sache pas le chinois. J'lui dirais volontiers qué qu'chose d'agréable pour elle et d'désobligeant pour son mari! colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1859 No.4. Ceux-ci s'intitulent les braves..., comment diable sont les autres? colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1859 No.6. "Voyons donc, voyons donc les amis..." lithograph on newsprint 43.3 x 29.5 cm ( sheet ) Brooklyn Museum, New York |
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| 1859 No.7. Je vourdrais pouvoir me faire promener comme ça dans les rues de Brest, on m'prendrait pour un mandarin! colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1859 No.15. L'envoyé américain obtenant une audience… lithograph 26.9 x 35.8 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1859 No.17 Patrouille chinoise en reçonnaissance. lithograph on newsprint 21.6 x 27.3 cm ( image ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1859 No.18. Ils vont être bien attrapés, ces européens!… colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1859 No.19. Tchinn-Tchinn..., tu m'apportes une bonne nouvelle!.... lithograph on newsprint 35.6 x 29.4 cm ( image ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1859 No.21. Dire que c'est là ce que les Français appellent des chinois! hand-coloured lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| No.5. Cristi! la belle femme! - Oh! mon dieu je le bel homme! (Cette dernière phrase a été traduite du Chinois par Lassagne.) colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| No.5. Cristi! La belle oseille! colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |