← Honoré Daumier Honoré Daumier — A bourgeois family convinced that they must preserve their dignity always and everywhere, from "A celebration in the neighboring village"

Honoré Daumier — A bourgeois family convinced that they must preserve their dignity always and everywhere, from "A celebration in the neighboring village"

A bourgeois family convinced that they must preserve their dignity always and everywhere, from "A celebration in the neighboring village"

Original title: A bourgeois family convinced that they must preserve their dignity always and everywhere, from "A celebration in the neighboring village"

Artist: Honoré Daumier
Date: June 24, 1865
Medium: Lithograph on newsprint; third state of three (Delteil)
Dimensions: Image: 6 9/16 × 9 3/4 in. (16.6 × 24.7 cm) Sheet: 8 1/2 × 11 13/16 in. (21.6 × 30 cm)
Credit line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier drew this lithograph in 1865: a bourgeois family that has settled at the edge of a village festival and makes a show of its dignity. The print belongs to the series 'A Festival in the Neighboring Village' and is here in the third of three states according to Delteil, printed on newsprint. The mockery targets the bourgeoisie's rigid notion of how to behave in public.

Description

Three figures have sat down on the ground in the foreground, their backs turned to the commotion behind them. Their shapes stay in dark grays and blacks, while tents and people appear farther back in lighter, more animated passages. The layout is unevenly divided: the family on the left, the festival on the right. Diffuse light spreads over the scene, giving it a hazy, muted quality.

Context

The lithograph was made as a contribution to a series on country life published in the satirical journal 'Le Charivari.' Daumier worked during the years when the bourgeoisie under Napoleon III paid increasing attention to social decorum. His caricature turns against the self-satisfaction of this class, a target he pursued again and again in other works.

Impact

The contrast between the motionless group in front and the lively festival behind creates an ironic, unsettling edge. The dark tonality reinforces the mocking distance from which Daumier observes his figures. Viewers are led to examine the gap between bourgeois pretension and actual behavior.

Technique

The lithograph was printed on newsprint, which points to its role as a mass medium. With chalk lithography Daumier achieved soft shading and the exaggerations typical of him. The third state differs slightly from the earlier ones, a circumstance of interest to collectors.

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