Le nouvel étendard des blanchisseuses, from Actualités, published in Le Charivari, August 26, 1857
Original title: Le nouvel étendard des blanchisseuses, from Actualités, published in Le Charivari, August 26, 1857
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier's 1857 lithograph 'The New Banner of the Laundresses' presents a comic street scene: two figures push an enormously inflated piece of laundry out of a window. The print belonged to the 'Actualités' series in the satirical journal Le Charivari and exists as a black-and-white impression on newsprint.
Description
A large, ripplingly drawn piece of laundry dominates the foreground, bulging out from a window set asymmetrically in the background. Inside the window stand two figures: one wearing a top hat, gazing at the laundry, the other also looking toward the action. Behind the scene, buildings and onlookers are visible. The linework feels fluid and caricatural, with pronounced shading that suggests light and movement.
Context
On 26 August 1857 this lithograph appeared in the Parisian satirical journal Le Charivari, for which Daumier regularly produced political and social caricatures. The 'Actualités' series took up current events and everyday scenes of the Second Empire. The motif of the laundresses refers to Parisian washerwomen, who often hung their laundry from windows—perceived in the urban space as a curiosity or a nuisance. Daumier used such scenes to capture social types and urban peculiarities with a satirical eye.
Impact
The caricature's comedy comes from the exaggerated depiction of the inflated laundry, which looks almost like a banner or a flag. The combination of an everyday action and grotesque overstatement invites a smile without being malicious. It conveys liveliness and urban daily life, with the figures in the window echoing the curiosity of passersby.
Technique
Executed as a lithograph on newsprint, in the second state of two (according to Delteil). This printing process allowed fine lines and shading typical of Daumier's characteristic, dynamic style. Kept in black and white, the print heightens the contrasts and the caricatural effect.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)