J'en aurais fait un boucher..., from "Actualités"
Original title: J'en aurais fait un boucher..., from "Actualités"
kurzbeschreibung
A large, powerful man stands with arms crossed facing a small boy in Asian dress. Honoré Daumier captured this encounter in his lithograph 'J'en aurais fait un boucher...', part of the 'Actualités' series and dated 10 December 1857. Printed as a lithograph on newsprint, the work is the second of two states according to Delteil.
Description
With arms crossed and a confident stance, the muscular man dominates the foreground. Facing him is a small boy wearing a hat and traditional Asian clothing, one hand on his hip. Several chicken heads hang on the wall behind them. The layout is clear and the outlines of the figures are sharply defined, which brings out the contrast between the two characters. Light spreads evenly, without strong shadows — as is usual for lithographs of this period.
Context
Daumier made this print for the satirical series 'Actualités', published in the French magazine 'Le Charivari'. At that time caricature often addressed France's colonial and cultural encounters, frequently in exaggerated form. For Daumier, lithography was a way to take up and comment on current social and political issues.
Impact
The striking difference in size and posture between the two figures gives the caricature a humorous yet pointed quality. Because the print is reduced to black and white, facial expressions and gestures come to the fore; the scene feels lively, almost like a stage performance.
Technique
For this lithograph Daumier drew with greasy chalk on a stone, from which the image was then printed on paper. The work was printed on newsprint — a process characteristic of the 'Actualités' series that allowed inexpensive distribution in large numbers.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)