Le Tondeur de chiens, plate 21 from "Bohémiens de Paris"
Original title: Le Tondeur de chiens, plate 21 from "Bohémiens de Paris"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier, best known for his political and social caricatures, gives this 1842 print over to an unremarkable street subject: a man shearing a dog on the Paris pavement. The lithograph belongs to the series 'Bohémiens de Paris' and turns attention to the everyday life of the urban poor.
Description
Crouched on the ground, a man works at the coat of a dog lying on its back, its markings spotted black and white. A woman in country dress, with bucket and apron, stands beside them. A sign reading 'Au Rêveur des Chiens' points to a dog-grooming establishment; houses and further passers-by are hinted at behind it, while the print's black and white sets the two main figures clearly apart from the rest of the activity.
Context
The sheet was made for the series 'Bohémiens de Paris', published in the satirical magazine 'Le Charivari' and portraying the lives of the capital's poor and outsiders. Daumier, known for his socially critical work, used such series to bring the circumstances of the lower classes before a broad public.
Impact
What shapes the print's effect is its unvarnished look at activity on the margins of society. The calm, almost documentary account of the dog shearer prompts both sympathy and a certain distance in the viewer.
Technique
The work is executed as a lithograph, drawn with greasy chalk on a stone and then printed. Daumier took readily to this process because it allowed quick, inexpensive reproduction — a precondition for his satirical and socially critical sheets. Finely graded lines and an even run of grey tones mark his work in this technique.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)