Academy of Women, from "Le Charivari"
Original title: Academy of Women, from "Le Charivari"
kurzbeschreibung
A formally dressed man holds out a medal to a woman, and that gesture anchors Honoré Daumier's lithograph 'Akademie der Frauen' from 1843. The black-and-white print was made for the magazine Le Charivari, in whose series it appeared. The humour comes from the clash between ceremonial pomp and the reactions of the people caught up in it.
Description
A medal or order is being pinned on or handed to the woman in the foreground, and her face registers surprise, perhaps discomfort. The man presenting it wears a tailcoat and an air of formality. Others stand around them, their attention divided: some follow the proceedings closely, others look away. A hall with columns and a raised podium frames the space. The monochrome print stays even in its tonal values, without harsh contrasts.
Context
The print came out on 2 August 1843 as part of a series Daumier drew for the satirical paper Le Charivari. Social conditions and political questions were regular subjects of his caricatures. Three states of the lithograph exist, and this impression is the third and last.
Impact
The print is funny and critical at once, since the exaggerated expressions and the awkward predicament arrive together. By staging the 'Akademie der Frauen', Daumier plays with ideas about gender roles and education. Viewers are likely to smile while still catching the point.
Technique
The image was printed as a black-and-white lithograph, a process that allowed fine strokes and graded shading, which suits the caricatural character of the drawing. The sheet measures 24 × 28 cm, the image itself 20.5 × 25.5 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)