← Honoré Daumier

Ne t'assoies pas là-dessus malheureuse!.... c'est peut-être le crocodile de la Patrie!...., from Actualités, published in Le Charivari, July 8, 1858

Original title: Ne t'assoies pas là-dessus malheureuse!.... c'est peut-être le crocodile de la Patrie!...., from Actualités, published in Le Charivari, July 8, 1858

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

July 8, 1858

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Sheet: 9 3/16 × 11 7/8 in. (23.3 × 30.2 cm) Image: 8 1/4 × 10 5/16 in. (20.9 × 26.2 cm)

Credit line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld, 1983

kurzbeschreibung

This lithograph by Honoré Daumier belongs to the Actualités series and appeared in Le Charivari on 8 July 1858. It presents a man and a woman who have settled themselves on the back of a large crocodile. Printed as a lithograph on newsprint, the sheet survives in the second of two states (Delteil).

Description

A man in hat, shirt and trousers and a woman in a long skirt and shawl crouch on an outstretched crocodile. Their baffled, frightened faces register sudden alarm, and their bodies are tense. Behind the pair a landscape with trees opens under an open sky. The layout runs horizontally, with the crocodile occupying the foreground zone and the figures seated on top of it. Everything stays in a single tone, as is usual for a lithograph.

Context

The sheet was made in 1858, under the rule of Napoleon III. In the Actualités series Daumier commented satirically on the political and social events of his day. The crocodile may stand as an emblem of political danger, or of state power as it was perceived to be threatening in the press of those years. Through the satirical magazine Le Charivari the print reached a broad bourgeois public.

Impact

The exaggerated faces and the absurd situation provoke laughter without losing the critical undertone. Viewers smirk — and the political allusion remains perceptible beneath the surface. The clear, plain linework helps the message land at once and stay in the memory.

Technique

The motif was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, which points to inexpensive production for the magazine. The print exists in the second of two states. The process allows fine gradations of shading and an exact rendering of the caricature.

AI-generated description text

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)