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 - 21 also.
This is part 22 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1871-72 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1874 Les voisins de campagne (Country neighbours):
1871-72 Actualités (Current Affairs):
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| 1871 No.319. Une Représentation au théâtre de Bordeaux. lithograph on newsprint 23.1 x 18.1 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1871 No.595. La République de Milo… lithograph 30 x 26.2 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1871 No.671. Prenez garde, madame la Majorite! … lithograph on newsprint 44 x 30.6 cm ( sheet ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1871 No.695. Merci: je sous d'en prendre! lithograph on newsprint 24.1 x 20.6 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1872 No.66. Ah! si j'étais le roi d'Espagne Comme je ficherais mon camp! lithograph 30 x 30 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1872 No.95. Je ne pourrai jamais laver tout ça. lithograph 28.8 x 25 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1872 No.118. The Assemby in Versailles: In January – Wretched Winter! lithograph on newsprint 23.2 x 19 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1872 No.183. And during those times, they continued to assert that she never felt better! lithograph 31.7 x 29.5 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
1874 Les voisins de campagne (Country neighbours):
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| 1874 No.934. - Ma foi, j'allais me coucher. -Trop heureux, belle dame, d'assister à ce spectacle. gillotype on brown paper 16.2 x 25 cm ( image ) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia |
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| 1870c Don Quixote and Sancho Panza oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| 1870c Members of the Bar oil on panel 21.6 x 28.1 cm Private Collection |
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| 1870c The Fugitives oil on canvas 38.1 x 68 cm Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota |
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| 1870c The Studio oil on canvas 40.6 x 31.8 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA |
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| 1870c Two Actors oil on panel 35 x 27 cm Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1874 Mother with a Child on her Arm oil on canvas 40.5 x 32.5 cm |
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| 1875c The Sculptor's Studio oil on panel 26.7 x 35.6 cm Phillips Collection, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. A Dandy 20 x 13 cm Private Collection |
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| n.d. A Famous Case oil on board 12.8 x 36.2 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff, UK |
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| n.d. A Famous Cause graphite and watercolour on paper |
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| n.d. A Lawyer pen and black ink, with grey wash, over black chalk 25.4 x 12.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. A Man pouring Wine from a Bottle pen and grey ink 16.8 x 14.9 cm The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. A Motherly Advice 19.9 x 17 cm Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI |
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| n.d. A Standing Couple charcoal ( rubbed ) 23.5 x 16 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| n.d. A Theatre Audience pen and black ink, gouache, and watercolour over black chalk 34.4 x 29.7 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Actor Posing in Front of a Mirror pen and black ink with crayon and watercolour on heavy laid paper 29.6 x 25.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. An Audience pen and wash 6.1 x 5.3 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| n.d. Archer Riding a Centaur black crayon on thin tissue 11.9 x 7.9 cm Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| n.d. Bloodletting from the Foot oil on canvas 62 x 50 cm The Wellcome Collection, London |
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| n.d. Centaur Carrying Off a Woman pen and black ink with wash over crayon on laid paper 15.4 x 21 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Children Playing watercolour, pen and brown ink on cream laid paper 15.2 x 21.3 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| n.d. Dancer crayon over charcoal on laid paper 21.1 x 14.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Deux avocats (Two Lawyers) graphite, pen and wash on transparent paper 17.2 x 13.2 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
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| n.d. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza black chalk and grey wash on wove paper 20 x 29.8 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Entrepôt d'Ivry lithographic poster Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| n.d. Female Bust 10.1 x 7.6 cm Private Collection |
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| n.d. Four studies of Heads black and red chalk with grey wash 25.4 x 12.4 cm The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Frightened Woman charcoal with black crayon on ivory laid paper 21 x 23.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| n.d. Head and Shoulders of an Old Man ( Mephisto ) pen and black ink 12.4 x 11.7 cm The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Head of a Bearded Man in Profile pen and black ink with brown-grey wash 4.3 x 6.3 cm The British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Head of a Man black chalk with brown, orange, and blue wash on laid paper 6.9 x 4.6 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Head of a Man charcoal and grey wash with graphite framing on light tan wove paper 10.4 x 8.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| n.d. Head of a man to front, wearing a cap 16.6 x 12.4 cm British Museum, London |
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| n.d. Head of a Man watercolour 7.8 x 6.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Head of a Man watercolour over black chalk on laid paper 6.6. x 7.3 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Head of a Man watercolour over graphite, pen and black ink, and black chalk 7.9 x 7.6 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Head of an Old Man pencil on paper 16.8 x 13.6 cm The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Head of an old man with open mouth pen and brush ink on paper 7.7. x 7.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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| n.d. Heads of Two Men 11 x 9 cm |
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| n.d. In the Omnibus 12.1 x 22.2 cm Dublin City Gallery, Ireland |
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| n.d. La Sortie du Bal Bullier oil on canvas 60.3 x 50.5 cm Noack Collection, Ascona, Switzerland |
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| n.d. Monk Reading oil on canvas Musée Marmottan, Paris |
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| 1870c The Resue oil on canvas 34.2 x 28.5 cm Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany |