ALL: Master Collection List
Nationality
French
Artist Dates
1808-1879
Preview
Date of Work
1846
Medium
Lithograph
Signature
Initialed in the lithographic stone.
Height
14 1/4"
Width
10 3/4"
Collection/Provenance
Art & Design Study Collection
Status
Stored: FF_006_T
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: LES BEAUX JOURS DE LA VIE
Published in Le Charivari & Album Les Beux Jours de la Vie
Original text: Un monsieur qui veut se donner la satisfaction d’avoir
son masque.
English: A gentleman who enjoys the satisfaction of having his mask taken.
Lithograph, published in Le Charivari, initialed in the lithographic stone
Purchased with funds from the Myers Foundations
University Art Collections: Art & Design Study Collection
Sculptors sometimes used plaster casts or “life-masks” of a person’s face as the basis for a portrait bust. From the application and drying of the plaster, to its skin-pulling removal, the process was incredibly uncomfortable. The subject of Daumier’s print seems likely to agree with Abraham Lincoln, who underwent the procedure in 1860—he found it “anything but agreeable.”
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.”