Nationality
French
Artist Dates
1808-1879
Preview
Date of Work
1846
Medium
Lithograph
Signature
Initialed in the lithographic stone.
Identification #
2016.001.1075
Collection/Provenance
Gift from the estate of Lilly Jacobson.
Status
Displayed:Second Floor, near the Fredrikson & Byron Law Firm Office suite
Location
UND School of Law
Artist Bio
Honoré Daumier was a prolific painter, printmaker and caricaturist born in 1808 in Marseille, France. In 1822 Daumier studied under Alexandre Lenoir, an artist and archaeologist that was dedicated to saving French monuments during the French Revolution. One year later he went on to attend the Académie Suisse. His works are best known for commenting and critiquing on the 19th century social and political life in France. Honoré Daumier's works can be found at the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rijksmuseum, and several other prominent collections internationally. The University of North Dakota holds more than 1600 works by Daumier, the vast majority of which are part of the Lilly Jacobson Collection, which can be accessed here: https://commons.und.edu/daumier-prints/.
Aside from making powerful politically-charged images that reflected his pro-republican views, Daumier satirized lawyers, doctors, businessmen, professors, and lifestyles of the bourgeoisie. Although the inscriptions that accompany Daumier’s lithographs were not written by him, one might assume they mostly conveyed the spirit of the artist’s intent behind his images.
Additional Information
Series:Les Gens de Justice
Published in Le Charivari
Original text: Ainsi donc, quoique j' vous avoue, entre nous, qu'cest moi qu'a volé la toquante au père Jérôme, vous n'mabandonnez pas pour ça!... - Eh! mon cher voleur.... vous connaissez bien mal mon coeur.... s'il n'y avait plus de filous il n'y aurait plus d'avocats..... maintenant que je suis bien certain que c'est vous qui avez fait le coup.... je plaiderai l'alibi!...
In this print, the lawyer takes an amoral approach to representing his client. Not being in any way troubled by his client’s admission to stealing a priest’s watch, he goes so far as to express gratitude to criminals for keeping him in business. He also has no problem with lying for his client by creating a false alibi to help him win the case.
Included in the Honoré Daumier III: Law, Medicine, and Social Satire exhibition, 2018.
Rights
Images are provided for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced for commercial use. Images may be protected by artist copyright. A credit line is required to be used for any public non-commercial educational purpose. The credit line must include, “Image courtesy of the University of North Dakota.”