Le leçon du professeur, from Les Comédiens de Société
Original title: Le leçon du professeur, from Les Comédiens de Société, published in Le Charivari, April 12, 1858
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier’s 1858 lithograph ushers us into a salon where two people rehearse a conversation: a woman and a man who seem to be acting out a lesson. The print belongs to the series 'Les Comédiens de Société' and appeared in the journal Le Charivari.
Description
On the left stands a woman in a long, carefully worked dress with an elaborate collar; she holds a sheet of paper and remains upright. Opposite her, on the right, a man in a suit leans slightly forward, also with a sheet, and speaks to her. Furniture and curtains are merely hinted at in the background. Both figures are caricaturally exaggerated, yet clothing and faces are rendered precisely. The inscribed instruction reads: 'Madame, ayez toujours de la dignité dans le geste......en prononçant votre phrase, ayez soin de bien mimer......joignez y ce geste de mépris !.....'. Black and white with graduated greys.
Context
The print appeared on 12 April 1858 in the satirical journal Le Charivari. For the series 'Les Comédiens de Société', Daumier targeted social role-play and the affectations of the bourgeoisie. What is presented here recalls acting or rhetoric lessons as cultivated in bourgeois circles. Daumier was known for his critical caricatures that exposed social and political ills.
Impact
What first prompts a smile is the stiff posture of the two, then the didactic gesture that makes the mocking distance from the social class shown palpable. The print is humorous and at the same time critical without becoming aggressive; the exaggeration of the figures and the ironic text do the rest.
Technique
The print was produced as a lithograph on newsprint, in the second state (Delteil). The lithographic process allowed fine lines and shading, used here for the detailed reproduction of fabrics and faces. That it was printed on newsprint points to mass production for the satirical press.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)