Si vous n'êtes pas noble..., from Les Portiers de Paris
Original title: Si vous n'êtes pas noble..., from Les Portiers de Paris, published in Le Charivari, December 11, 1858
kurzbeschreibung
A porter stands in a hallway, his gaze fixed on a woman at the door. Honoré Daumier's lithograph, titled 'Si vous n'êtes pas noble...', appeared on December 11, 1858, in the series 'Les Portiers de Paris' in the journal 'Le Charivari'. This impression is the second state of two (Delteil).
Description
Wearing an apron and a pensive expression, the porter occupies a plain corridor. Through an open doorway his eyes settle on a woman in a headscarf and jacket. A closed door is visible at the far end of the passage. The arrangement keeps the meeting between the two figures at the heart of the image. Grey tones govern the monochrome print, lit evenly and without harsh shadows. Along the bottom margin appear the title and the notation '2/2'.
Context
The series 'Les Portiers de Paris' was published in 1858 in the satirical journal 'Le Charivari', for which Daumier worked regularly. It belongs to a run of prints that look with humour at the lives of Parisian porters and their place in everyday city life. By this point Daumier had been contributing to the paper for more than twenty years and was known for his socially critical lithographs. The second state differs from the first through minor changes made for publication.
Impact
The caricatural exaggeration of the figures and the ordinariness of the encounter make the image immediately legible. A calm, clear layout draws attention to the meeting without dramatic devices. The humour grows out of the charged situation between the porter and the visitor.
Technique
Daumier made this print by lithography, a process in which a fatty crayon is drawn on a stone and the image is then printed. The technique allowed him quick, precise impressions of his caricatures. This impression is the second state, meaning that corrections or additions were made after the first run.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)