Honore Daumier is a master of French political caricature and engraving, a famous painter and sculptor of the 19th century. Having witnessed two revolutions in France, Honore Daumier took the side of the common people. His work is an example of critical realism. The artist bitingly denounced and ridiculed officials and the bourgeois, bringing to the fore workers, artisans and laundresses. Daumier left a rich legacy: more than 4 thousand lithographs, 900 graphic drawings, about 700 paintings and 60 sculptural compositions.
Biography of Honore Daumier
Honore Daumier began to get involved in drawing, not showing interest in the family glass business. In 1814 the family moved to Paris, where the most important stage in the artist’s life began. He began to take drawing lessons, and at the age of 20 he decided to master the technique of lithography. This skill brought him good money, life seemed cloudless. But everything changed with the beginning of the July Revolution of 1830.
Honore Daumier did not stand aside and discovered the genre of political caricature, which determined his further work. He mercilessly denounced those in power, judges and officials, showing them in a grotesque and sarcastic manner. His cartoons were published in several publications with which he collaborated (Silhouette, Caricature, Sharivari).
Gargantua
For his courage, the artist eventually paid the price when he released “Gargantua” (1831) the most famous of the early lithographs. It also features King Louis Philippe, the cartoonist’s favorite target. But here he appeared in the form of a fat, ugly hero Rabelais with a pear-shaped head. He sits in an armchair, towering over everyone and absorbing the gold taken from the people. The drawing, displayed in a shop window, drew a crowd. For this work, Honore Daumier not only paid a fine of 500 francs, but also spent six months in prison.
However, this did not break the master on the contrary, communication with prisoners only strengthened his revolutionary spirit. Honore Daumier continued his struggle against the greed, cruelty and hypocrisy of politicians. In 1834, he created another landmark work, The Legislative Womb. This is a collective portrait of members of parliament, whose images are filled with laziness, boredom, venality and indifference. Although this is a lithograph, the artist presented a three-dimensional drawing to emphasize the ugliness of the depicted characters.
Unlike the parliamentarians, the artist himself was deeply touched by the fate of the common people. He was struck by the brutal reprisals against the workers after the murder of an officer. The military broke into houses and killed everyone in a row, “Transnonen Street April 15, 1834” became the most poignant work of that period. The lithograph is filled with horror and inhumanity. Near the owner of the house are members of his family, and under him an innocent child killed.
Animations
Modern British animator Geoff Dunbar used the work of Honore Daumier to create black and white animation. Together with Paul McCartney (Paul McCartney), who recorded the soundtrack, the cartoon “Daumier’s Law” was filmed. In 1992, the film was released, and a year later received the BAFTA Award from the British Academy of Film.
Several works by Honore Daumier are also associated with the French Revolution of 1848, not only in graphics, but also in grotesque sculpture. Although this period was short-lived. The artist began to devote more and more time to painting in oils and watercolors, combining paintings into cycles. In the works of the late 40s, he still reflected revolutionary themes.
But he gradually moved on to more peaceful topics, depicting the life of ordinary people in the everyday genre.
Honore Daumier has come a long way from popular recognition to complete oblivion and poverty. By 1873 he was almost blind, stopped working and was left without property. His friend the landscape painter Camille Corot (Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot) bought a house for the artist in the town of Valmondois, where he died on February 10, 1879.
