Nationality
French
Artist Dates
1808-1879
Preview
Date of Work
1834
Medium
Sur blanc
Signature
Initialed in the lithographic stone.
Identification #
2016.001.0154
Collection/Provenance
University Art Collections: Lilly Jacobson Collection, Art & Design Dept.
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: La Caricature
Published in La Cariacture
Original text: Le passé. Le présent. L'Avenir.
Although Daumier’s scathing caricature of King Louis Philippe as the giant Gargantua had led to the artist being briefly imprisoned in 1832, he continued to attack the king in his lithographs (that is, until the passage of hasher censorship laws would eventually stop him).
The pear-shaped head the 1834 lithograph echoes Louis Philippe’s pear-shaped body in Daumier’s other works from the same period. The king’s three faces progress in degrees of ugliness from left to right. The message is that his oppressive leadership gets worse as time goes on.
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.”
