← Honoré Daumier

5 o'clock on June 30th, from 'The public at the exhibition,' published in Le Petit Journal pour Rire, June 25, 1864

Original title: 5 o'clock on June 30th, from 'The public at the exhibition,' published in Le Petit Journal pour Rire, June 25, 1864

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

June 25, 1864

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; third state of three (Deltiel)

Dimensions

Image: 8 5/16 × 8 15/16 in. (21.1 × 22.7 cm) Sheet: 17 1/4 × 11 15/16 in. (43.8 × 30.3 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1864 for 'Das Publikum in der Ausstellung' (The Public at the Exhibition), a series that ran in Le Petit Journal pour Rire. The print stages a small comedy of museum fatigue: a worn-out visitor has fallen asleep in his chair, and an attendant is trying to wake him.

Description

Up front, a figure in shirt and cap sits on a chair, head lowered, eyelids shut, dozing. Beside him stands a second person in jacket and trousers, one hand resting on the sleeper's shoulder as if to shake him gently awake. Behind them a third figure watches what happens, while paintings hang on the wall to the side. Fine hatching and crisp outlines draw the figures in black and white, giving the image a dense, lifelike presence.

Context

The lithograph appeared on 25 June 1864 in the humorous magazine Le Petit Journal pour Rire, which reached a broad Parisian readership. Daumier was known for his satirical take on everyday life, above all the bourgeoisie and the art world. The series 'Das Publikum in der Ausstellung' pokes fun at how visitors behave in art exhibitions, a live topic at the time, since the Paris Salon regularly drew large crowds.

Impact

The everyday situation and the sleeper's tired posture make the scene immediately familiar. With its caption, the print takes a comic turn that invites a smile. In an easygoing way Daumier criticizes the often superficial or exhausting business of looking at art, without ever sounding preachy.

Technique

The image was made as a lithograph on newsprint, a process widely used for satirical prints in the nineteenth century. This impression is the third state of three (Deltiel), which points to several rounds of reworking the print. The technique allows fine lines and shading, put to use here for a realistic rendering of the figures and the room.

AI-generated description text

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