Paris Grippé, from Actualités, published in 'Le Charivari'
Original title: Paris Grippé, from Actualités, published in "Le Charivari"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier's 1858 lithograph "Paris Grippé" drops the viewer into a busy street in the Paris of the day. Up front, a man in a long coat and top hat talks with an aproned woman, while another woman stands nearby with a child. The sheet stays black and white throughout, mixing close observation with touches of caricature.
Description
A knot of people has gathered on the street, and one gentleman in a top hat and flapping coat clearly steps out from it. He is speaking to a woman in a long dress and apron, while a second woman with a child glances his way. Other passers-by can be made out behind the figures, including one who has turned away. Folds and shading are worked out carefully, the layout runs horizontally, and the light falls evenly across the sheet.
Context
The lithograph appeared in 1858 in the satirical journal "Le Charivari," for which Daumier worked steadily. It belongs to the "Actualités," a series in which he skewered the social and political events of his time. The title "Paris Grippé" refers to the flu then going around the city and describes the everyday life of Parisians. Daumier became known for socially critical images of the bourgeoisie and the working class.
Impact
Realistic observation and barely noticeable exaggeration of expressions give the print a documentary and a satirical character at once. The calm arrangement and precise rendering of clothing lend the view something credible that draws the viewer straight into nineteenth-century daily life.
Technique
This sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, a process in which a drawing is set down on the stone with greasy chalk and then pulled. That method let Daumier circulate his caricatures quickly and in large editions through journals. The present example is the third state of three, suggesting the printing plate was reworked afterward.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)