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 - 18 also.
This is part 19 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1868 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1868 Actualités (Current Affairs):
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| 1868 No.11. Dur à dénouer. colour lithograph 34 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1868 No.21. Caisse d'Epargne. lithograph 36.3 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.34. Expérience d'équilibre. lithograph 36.3 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.35. Pas engageant pour les autres. lithograph 36.2 x 27.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.52. Une séance de magnétisme. lithograph 36.7 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.72. Le Journal en Blanc. lithograph 36.5 x 27.4 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.80. Des oeufs de Pàques longs à couver. lithograph 36.7 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.81. Doucement! lithograph 36.5 x 27.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.97. Reception Academique. lithograph 29.2 x 29.2 cm ( image ) Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, USA |
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| 1868 No.118. Il dort bravo! mais ses matelas coûtent un peu cher. lithograph 36.5 x 28.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.120. Partira! partira pas! lithograph 36.2 x 26.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.129. Un procédé pour qu'il marche sans avancer. lithograph 37.2 x 28.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.130. Autres Hannetons. lithograph 36.3 x 28.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.144. Invention Charivarique. lithograph 36.1 x 29 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.145. Attention! lithograph 36.4 x 27.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.146. La Saint Médard Politique. colour lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1868 No.150. A Munich. lithograph 35.9 x 27.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.151. - Pourvu que ce diable de Mars n'ôte pas sa muselière!! lithograph 36 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.152. Projet de parlement d'été soumis à l'Europe par le Charivari lithograph 36.7 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.164. La Pénélope Moderne. lithograph 37 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.167. Perhaps you think that he is a spectator... lithograph and pencil 24.3 x 21.6 cm The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1868 No.168. Monsieur l’academicien, je suis candidat… lithograph on newsprint 44 x 30.6 cm ( sheet ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1868 No.184. Situation Européenne. lithograph 36.3 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.185. Faisons semblant de dormir car il serait capable de me développer son amendement sur le dernier projet de loi…. colour lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1868 No.186. - C'est pourtant comme ça qu'on se donne des tours de reins !... lithograph 36.4 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.187. Une lauréate en 1868. lithograph 36.3 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.188. Un hercule qui enfonce ceux de la fête de St.Cloud. lithograph 36.4 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.189. John Bull jure qu'il est attaché au fils de Théodoros par un lien indissoluble. lithograph 36.8 x 27.7 m ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.207. A tout coup l'on perd !! lithograph 36.4 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.209. - Mon vélocipède! lithograph on newsprint 36.3 x 27.9 cm ( image ) |
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| 1868 No.210. Gare la culbulte! lithograph 36 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.211. ? ( Point d'interrogation / Question mark ) lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.212. La Pavé de l'Ours. lithograph 36.5 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.217. Que voient-ils dedans ??... lithograph 36.1 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.218. Les Budgets Européens. lithograph 36.2 x 28.3 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.219. La Paix. Quels drôles de miroirs on fait aujourd'hui! lithograph 36.5 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 no.220. La rentrée. lithograph 35.8 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.221. La Partie de Saute-Mouton. lithograph 36.3 x 27.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.222. Chauds les gros! Chauds !... lithograph 36.2 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.255. - Diantre !.... lithograph 50 x 40 cm ( sheet ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.256. En Espagne. lithograph 36.3 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.259. C'est à qui fera ses offres de service. lithograph 36.1 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.261. Étrennes pour 1868. lithograph on newsprint 24.7 x 20.9 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1868 No.263. En Espagne. Le Géant et les Pygmées. lithograph 36.1 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.268. - Le boa digère : pas de danger qu'il bouge. colour lithograph 37 x 28 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1868 No.280. Les cadeaux de Noël de 1868. lithograph 38.4 x 29.1 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.281. Ceux qui s'intitulent les soutiens de l'Espagne. lithograph 37.9 x 29.4 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.282. 31 Décembre. Table des matières. hand coloured lithograph 36 x 28 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1868 No.290. Je vous en prie, rentrez dans votre boite, vous allez compromettre mon équilibre. lithograph 37.9 x 28.2 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.293. Pas rassurés les écus!... lithograph 37.7 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1868 No.308. Essayant son sourire de candidat futur. lithograph 36.1 x 27.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |