Nationality
French
Artist Dates
1808-1879
Title of Work
UNE SÉANCE DE MAGNÉTISME
Preview
Date of Work
1867
Medium
Lithograph
Signature
Initialed in the lithographic stone.
Identification #
2016.001.0944
Collection/Provenance
University Art Collections: Lilly Jacobson Collection, Art & Design Dept.
Status
Stored: R31
Location
UND Art Collections Repository
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: Actualités
Published in Le Charivari
Original text: UNE SÉANCE DE MAGNÉTISME. On dirait que ce diable de Mars ne veut dormir que d'un oeil.
Here Daumier presents an allegory about political instability among nations in Europe. Mars, the god of war, is kept asleep through “animal magnetism” (which preceded hypnotism). Should Mars wake up, war will soon erupt.
In the field of medicine, animal magnetism (or mesmerism) was generally associated more with charlatans, than with honest physicians. Yet, some doctors experimented with it as alternate medicine. As hypnotism progressed through the 19th century, it increasingly gained respectability—when understood as being about the power of suggestion, rather than uncanny magnetic energy.
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.”