Une position difficile, from Actualités, published in "Le Charivari"
Original title: Une position difficile, from Actualités, published in "Le Charivari"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier's lithograph 'Une position difficile' appeared on 5 November 1859 in the series 'Actualités' in the satirical journal 'Le Charivari'. The print presents three figures in a tense encounter: one in traditional dress with a turban, the other two in Western clothing. The impression is the third of three states.
Description
The arrangement feels lopsided, pulling toward the middle where the three figures grip one another by the arms. On the left stands the turbaned figure in customary attire; opposite him, the two Western-dressed men interlock as if in a tug-of-war. Their postures and expressions make the physical strain palpable. Varying densities of line in the black-and-white lithograph bring out the texture of the garments and the features of the faces, while the caricatural manner, with its emphatic strokes, heightens the movement of the quarrel.
Context
Daumier, a regular contributor of political and social caricatures to 'Le Charivari', submitted this sheet on 5 November 1859. The series 'Actualités' took up current events and social ills under the Second Empire. When a figure marked as Oriental here clashes with men in Western dress, it points to colonial and foreign-policy disputes of the day, including France's influence in the Middle East. The third state contains revisions Daumier made before publication.
Impact
The tightly knit group and the cramped poses create an immediate agitation that draws the eye into the dispute. Daumier's forceful lines intensify the emotional charge, making the conflict legible even without knowing its occasion. At the same time, the print wavers between comedy and menace, as is typical of his satirical work.
Technique
This is a lithograph in the third of three states, as documented by the catalogues of Delteil and Hazard & Delteil. In this process, the drawing is made with greasy chalk on a limestone and chemically fixed before printing. Graded line densities and different printing stages produce the delicate shadows and sharp contours that give the figures bodily presence in the black-and-white reproduction.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)