Faisant son apprentissage au tourniquet de la bourse..., from Croquis Parisiens, published in Le Charivari, February 6, 1857
Original title: Faisant son apprentissage au tourniquet de la bourse..., from Croquis Parisiens, published in Le Charivari, February 6, 1857
kurzbeschreibung
Unlike many comparable Daumier sheets, this 1857 lithograph gives no interior: the setting is a street in winter. It belongs to the series 'Croquis Parisiens' and appeared on 6 February 1857 in 'Charivari'.
Description
A figure in a dark coat and wide-brimmed hat stands at a turnstile, while to the right a second person vaults over the gate. Snowflakes fall, and the layout is deliberately unbalanced: the main figure on the left, the leaper on the right. Kept in shades of grey, textures and shadows come forward; the light feels dull.
Context
Daumier drew this lithograph for 'Croquis Parisiens', a series running in 'Le Charivari' from 1857. The series takes in big-city life, above all its types and everyday situations. Dated 6 February 1857, the sheet falls in the years of the rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III, which Daumier followed closely and critically.
Impact
A wintry, gloomy mood takes hold, with standstill and movement working against each other. The graded hatching and clear outlines lend the sheet something immediate, almost caricatural.
Technique
Printing was done lithographically, a process resting on the repulsion of grease and water. What is here is the second state of two (Delteil), so the stone was reworked. That allows the fine gradations and precise lines characteristic of Daumier's graphic work.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)