← Honoré Daumier

Landscape painters at work, published in Souvenirs d'Artistes

Original title: Landscape painters at work, published in Souvenirs d'Artistes

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

August 17, 1862

Medium

Lithograph; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 8 1/16 × 10 9/16 in. (20.5 × 26.8 cm) Sheet: 12 7/16 × 17 3/8 in. (31.6 × 44.1 cm)

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier's 1862 lithograph 'Landschaftsmaler bei der Arbeit' presents two landscape painters taking a break from working outdoors. The print belongs to the series 'Souvenirs d'Artistes' and exists in the second of two states.

Description

Your eye lands first on two landscape painters sprawled on the ground, resting right beside their easels and open umbrellas. Their relaxed posture contrasts with the ready equipment, suggesting an interruption of work. Behind them, an expansive landscape with trees and gentle hills opens up. The arrangement is clear: the figures dominate the foreground, while the landscape forms a calm backdrop. The lithograph is executed in black and white, with nuanced grays and realistic attention to detail.

Context

In August 1862, Daumier created this lithograph as a contribution to his series 'Souvenirs d'Artistes', which pokes fun at the art world of the time. The series appeared in the magazine 'Le Charivari', for which Daumier regularly drew political and social caricatures. The theme of landscape painters picks up on the plein-air painting that was becoming popular in the 1860s. Daumier, himself a painter and printmaker, viewed the artist's milieu with a critical eye.

Impact

The painters' casual poses create a cheerful, almost ironic mood that undercuts the seriousness of artistic work. The calm landscape setting reinforces the contrast between idyll and artistic routine. The print thus reads as a humorous reflection on the relationship between artist and nature.

Technique

Lithography is a planographic printing process in which a design is drawn with greasy chalk on limestone. Daumier used this technique to achieve fine lines and soft gradations of gray, giving the scene a sketch-like liveliness. The second state of the print shows possible revisions compared to the first, as is typical for the series.

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