Will he be God, a table, or a basin? (April 12, 1869, Met-Objekt 3543)
Original title: Will he be God, a table, or a basin?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, April 12, 1869
kurzbeschreibung
Where many election cartoons of the day settle for mocking individual candidates, this lithograph by Honoré Daumier puts a worked stone block at the heart of the picture. A man brings his hammer down on the large block bearing the words 'BLOC ÉLECTORAL'. The print appeared in the satirical journal 'Le Charivari' on 12 April 1869 and survives as the third of three states (Delteil).
Description
A male figure hammers away at a hefty stone block, noting something down with his left hand as he works. A split runs through the middle of the block, hinting at how easily it might be broken apart. Another cracked stone stands behind him. The black-and-white lithograph is drawn with detailed, vigorous strokes. Layout and gesture pull the eye toward the man and the stone; the manner is caricatural and comic.
Context
The cartoon ran in the French satirical journal 'Le Charivari' during the closing years of the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Daumier returned again and again to political and social abuse, and here he seems to take aim at the electoral process and the handling of the electorate. It was made in April 1869, a few months before the parliamentary elections, as a comment on the political situation in France.
Impact
The overstated figure and the symbolic imagery lodge themselves in the memory at once. The question in the title sets up an ironic tension that makes the viewer wonder what this electoral block really is. The spare black-and-white graphic sharpens the concentrated, almost dramatic force of the scene.
Technique
Daumier worked in lithography, a print process then in wide use that allowed images to be produced quickly and distributed in large numbers. It was printed on newsprint, which underlines how ephemeral the medium was. The drawing has a confident, expressive line that carries the caricatural punch.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)