← Honoré Daumier

Musical séances, always the same song!, from 'The spiritualists,' published in Le Charivari, November 8, 1865

Original title: Musical séances, always the same song!, from 'The spiritualists,' published in Le Charivari, November 8, 1865

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

November 8, 1865

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 8 15/16 in. × 8 in. (22.7 × 20.3 cm) Sheet: 11 11/16 × 9 15/16 in. (29.7 × 25.3 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier’s lithograph Musikalische Séancen, immer dasselbe Lied! appeared on 8 November 1865 as part of the series Les Spiritistes. It shows a group of people during a spiritualist musical séance, with floating instruments arranged above them. The sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint and is the second of two states.

Description

Above the row of figures hover stylized guitars and violins, their lines suggesting movement. The people stand side by side, their gazes directed upward at something outside the image. Their clothing is plain and contemporary, their faces drawn with expressive strokes that convey astonishment or devotion. The arrangement links the figures in a chain that leads the eye toward the musical session. Gray tones dominate the monochrome print, and the light falls evenly, without special effects.

Context

The lithograph was published on 8 November 1865 in the satirical journal Le Charivari as part of the series Les Spiritistes. Daumier thus took up spiritualism, which had many adherents in nineteenth-century France, especially among the bourgeoisie. The series mocked the fashionable séances of the time, with table-turning and supposed conjuring of spirits. As a recognized caricaturist, Daumier used his position to comment critically on social phenomena.

Impact

What mainly makes the viewer smile is the contrast between the exaggerated facial expressions and the freely floating instruments, which tilts the scene into irony. The lined-up figures create a sense of the absurdity of the séance. Clear lines and expressively drawn emotions define the monochrome sheet.

Technique

Daumier worked in lithography: the drawing was made with chalk or ink on the stone and then printed on newsprint. That the work survives in the second of two states points to later reworking of the stone. The gray tones result from the varying density of the lithographic drawing, which allows fine gradations.

AI-generated description text

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