This is just the way to strain your back, from "News of the day"
Original title: This is just the way to strain your back, from "News of the day"
kurzbeschreibung
Where many caricatures of the period line up lone figures for inspection, this 1868 lithograph by Honoré Daumier packs a whole crowd onto a swinging or rolling exercise contraption and lets them contort themselves silly. The sheet belongs to the series "News of the Day" and was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, mixing broad comic exaggeration with close everyday observation.
Description
A pendulum-like or rolling apparatus anchors the whole layout: several people hang from it in wildly different attitudes, some hauling themselves upward, others straining to reach the top. A crowd of onlookers follows the goings-on. Up front a figure who reads like a doctor or some other authority gestures and throws in a remark. The caption runs: "C'est pourtant comme ça qu'on se donne des tours de reins!......"
Context
Daumier made the print in August 1868, when he was drawing satirical pieces for the French press on a regular basis. It takes its place in the "News of the Day" series, which picked up current social and political material. He had a reputation as a sharp observer of daily life who caught human weaknesses with an incisive pen.
Impact
The overdone poses and the comic caption get a laugh straight away. At the same time the subject exposes the absurdity of human exertion and the needless strain people put themselves under day to day. Lightness and a critical edge sit side by side here, as they so often do in Daumier's work.
Technique
Daumier chose lithography on newsprint, a medium that allowed quick distribution. This impression is the third of three states (Delteil), which points to careful reworking of the printing plate. The varied linework and shading show how confidently the artist handled the lithographic technique.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)