← Honoré Daumier

N'est-il pas vrai, brave turco, que vous préférez les Françaises aux Africaines?..., from Les Actualités, published in Le Charivari, August 31, 1859

Original title: N'est-il pas vrai, brave turco, que vous préférez les Françaises aux Africaines?..., from Les Actualités, published in Le Charivari, August 31, 1859

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

August 31, 1859

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; third state of five (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 9 13/16 in. × 9 in. (24.9 × 22.9 cm) Sheet: 16 3/4 × 11 5/16 in. (42.5 × 28.7 cm)

Credit line

Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1960

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1859. It gathers several travellers inside a railway carriage, among them a laughing man in traditional dress. The print belongs to the series Les Actualités and appeared in the satirical journal Le Charivari. It was printed in black and white on newsprint.

Description

The setting is an interior fitted out as a carriage cabin, with benches along the walls. A group of people sits there: a gentleman in a top hat, a woman with a headscarf, another in a long dress. At the centre is a man in traditional clothing, whose broad laugh provides the humorous point of the sheet. The layout runs horizontally, with the figures lined up side by side. Black-and-white reproduction and even lighting are typical of lithography.

Context

Daumier created this lithograph for the Parisian satirical journal Le Charivari, where it was published on 31 August 1859. The series Les Actualités took aim at current events and social questions of the Second Empire. The title refers to colonial relations with North Africa at the time, which the figure of the 'Turk' evokes. The sheet is the third of five states, as recorded in the Delteil catalogue.

Impact

Because the faces and body language are exaggerated, the caricature is immediately funny. The laughing man in the middle draws the eye and creates an amused, almost grotesque mood. The scene feels both everyday and absurd — a hallmark of Daumier's satirical style.

Technique

Lithograph on newsprint: the drawing was made with greasy chalk on the stone and then transferred to paper. This version is the third of five states, indicating later revisions by the artist.

AI-generated description text

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