Ohé...les navigateurs...débarquez sans crainte...
Original title: Ohé...les navigateurs...débarquez sans crainte..., from Croquis d'Été, published in Le Charivari, September 10, 1856
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1856: a group of people calls out from the shore to a boat. The print belongs to the series 'Croquis d'Été' and appeared on September 10, 1856, in the magazine 'Le Charivari'.
Description
Several figures stand at a railing, shouting toward a boat on the sea; some throw their arms up in gestures that are expansive, almost impatient. Out on the water, a small crew handles the boat. Grays and whites dominate the black-and-white of the print. The horizontal layout centers on the back-and-forth between shore and water.
Context
The print was made in Paris in 1856 and published in the satirical magazine 'Le Charivari'. Within the series 'Croquis d'Été' (Summer Sketches), Daumier took aim at the French summer and its everyday scenes, often with a social-critical eye, as was typical of his regular contributions to the paper. The bathing and leisure culture of the French middle and upper classes of those years becomes tangible in it.
Impact
The expansive gestures and the interplay with the boat create a lively, almost amused mood. Fine shading and the restriction to black and white give the scene something realistic without losing its artistic quality. The gaze is drawn to the exchange between land and water, which generates curiosity and a slight tension.
Technique
The lithograph was printed by the stone-drawing process: with greasy chalk, the image is drawn on the stone, then transferred to paper. The present impression is the second of two states (Delteil), in which the strokes and tonal gradations typical of this technique are visible. The sheet measures 25.2 × 36.7 cm, the image itself 19.9 × 26.9 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)