Don't shoot!!!, from "Hunting Sketches"
Original title: Don't shoot!!!, from "Hunting Sketches"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier's lithograph "Nicht schießen!!!" (Don't Shoot!!!) from 1865 stages a comic hunting episode: a hunter has raised his gun, but someone else is shielding a dog. The print belongs to the series "Hunting Sketches" and was printed on newsprint.
Description
At the front a dog moves forward while a figure in hunting dress holds up a hand to shield it. From the left a man aims his shotgun at the dog, and the protecting figure on the right crouches low. Trees and plants sketch in the setting; along the bottom runs the inscription "Ne tirez pas!!!" (Don't shoot!!!). The arrangement is restless and pulls the eye toward the exchange between person and animal; the lithograph stays in greys with delicate linework.
Context
Daumier made this lithograph for his series "Hunting Sketches," which appeared in the satirical journal Le Charivari. There the pleasures and mishaps of bourgeois hunters were taken apart. The second state (Delteil) came out on September 4, 1865, at a time when Daumier was known for his socially critical caricatures.
Impact
You feel a comic tension: here the aiming hunter, there the other person's warding-off gesture. The dog's lively posture and the expressive gesturing heighten the humorous impression. The print feels animated and narrative, as is typical of Daumier's satirical style.
Technique
The sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, a process in which a greasy chalk drawing is made on the stone and then pulled. In the second state, fine shading and precise linework come forward, emphasizing details of the figures and the setting. The newsprint points to mass production for the satirical press.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)