In Germany: Let's pack up everything, caution is the mother of wit, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 28, 1866
Original title: In Germany: Let's pack up everything, caution is the mother of wit, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 28, 1866
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1866 for his series 'Nachrichten des Tages' (News of the Day), published in the journal Le Charivari. The print presents a street scene in Germany: in the foreground a woman with a worried face, behind her people at a market stall.
Description
The woman stands upright in the foreground, looking directly at the viewer; her expression betrays concern. Behind her, several people have gathered around a table where someone sits, apparently offering or displaying goods. As a lithograph, the image remains monochrome. Light is distributed evenly across the surface, the lines are drawn in detail, and shading brings the figures forward.
Context
The print belongs to the period of tensions between Prussia and Austria before the German War of 1866. In his series 'Nachrichten des Tages', Daumier regularly took up political events in Europe. On 28 May 1866 the sheet appeared in the satirical journal Le Charivari. It is recorded as the second of two states (Delteil).
Impact
Unease and worry hang over the print, and the woman's direct gaze adds to this. Realistic yet sharply caricatured, the image makes the political situation comprehensible to the viewer. The layout draws the eye to the central figure and thus brings the human side of historical events to the fore.
Technique
The sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, a common process for caricatures in the nineteenth century. This technique allows fine lines and shading, which stand out clearly here. The present impression is the second state of the print, as recorded by Delteil.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)