← Honoré Daumier

Like a Puppet, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, October 12, 1869

Original title: Like a Puppet, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, October 12, 1869

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

October 12, 1869

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 9 5/16 in. × 8 in. (23.6 × 20.3 cm) Sheet: 11 3/16 × 10 7/8 in. (28.4 × 27.7 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953

kurzbeschreibung

Unlike many soldier caricatures of its time, Honoré Daumier's lithograph 'Like a Puppet' of 12 October 1869 zeroes in on the relationship between military authority and a manipulated human being: an armored warrior leads a marionette by a string. The print, part of Daumier's satirical contributions to Le Charivari, exists in two states (Delteil) and addresses the control of the individual by political or military power.

Description

A helmeted soldier in armor, caught mid-motion, holds up a marionette by a clearly visible string. Behind him stretches a landscape with a moon and cloudy sky; on the ground lies a lifeless figure that seems to be directed by the puppet. The layout is decidedly asymmetrical: soldier and puppet occupy the foreground, while the sky dominates as a large field behind them. Grays and line work typical of lithography sharpen the structure of the figures.

Context

Daumier made this lithograph in 1869 for the satirical newspaper Le Charivari, where he regularly denounced political and social abuses—a period of political tension in France, shortly before the Franco-Prussian War. The pairing of soldier and controlled puppet can be read as a comment on the external direction of citizens by military or state authority. Daumier's critical caricatures often drew censorship and legal consequences.

Impact

Military force and the defenseless puppet collide in this sheet in a way that is unsettling. The gloomy landscape with moon and clouds heightens the threatening mood. Given the dead figure on the ground, the viewer is left pondering the consequences of abuses of power.

Technique

Executed as a lithograph on newsprint, drawn with greasy chalk on the stone and then printed. The grays result from various shadings and lines characteristic of this process. The present impression is the second state of two, indicating later revisions to the print.

AI-generated description text

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