An Orchestra in a Fashionable Residence; plate 8 from the series, Les Comédiens de Société, published in "Le Charivari"
Original title: An Orchestra in a Fashionable Residence; plate 8 from the series, Les Comédiens de Société, published in "Le Charivari"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in April 1858 as the eighth plate of his series 'Les Comédiens de Société'; it appeared on 20 April 1858 in 'Le Charivari'. A small group of musicians performs in an elegant salon.
Description
At the piano in the foreground sits a woman in a long dark dress, while a woman in a light dress stands beside her, singing. A cellist has taken his place next to the piano; further back a man plays the flute, and another in the middle of the room plays a different instrument. Spectators follow the performance, and a black dog lies on the floor, its gaze turned toward the cellist. Black and white, evenly lit, with caricaturally exaggerated expressions.
Context
Daumier worked regularly for the satirical magazine 'Le Charivari' at the time, contributing social-critical caricatures. 'Les Comédiens de Société' took aim at the bourgeois facade and role-playing of Parisian society during the Second Empire. Printmaking allowed social types and behavior to be humorously exaggerated; this plate belonged to an ongoing series for a broad urban audience.
Impact
Exaggerated poses and faces create a humorous, ironic tone that never tips into the grotesque. The calm layout and even brightness give the whole something observant, almost documentary — and make the absurdity of the situation all the more apparent.
Technique
The technique is lithography: a greasy chalk drawing is made on stone and the image then transferred to paper. This process allows fine tonal gradations and rapid reproduction, which was particularly advantageous for satirical magazines. The sheet measures 26.5 × 35.9 cm, the image area 20.8 × 26.9 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)