← Honoré Daumier

It's the Apollo of the new opera. –Well, I had taken it for the statue of liberty, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, June 4, 1870

Original title: –It's the Apollo of the new opera. –Well, I had taken it for the statue of liberty, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, June 4, 1870

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

June 4, 1870

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; third state of three (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 9 13/16 × 8 1/2 in. (25 × 21.6 cm) Sheet: 11 11/16 × 11 1/16 in. (29.7 × 28.1 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953

kurzbeschreibung

Made in 1870, Daumier's lithograph gathers two onlookers before a statue: one takes it for the Apollo of the new opera house, while the other mistakes it for the Statue of Liberty. The print belongs to the series 'News of the day' and survives here as the third state (Delteil) on newsprint.

Description

Up front two men are talking, one at the left in cap and jacket, the other at the right in top hat and spectacles. Both fix their gaze on a stylized statue on a pedestal, draped in a coat. More figures and columns appear behind, suggesting a museum or gallery. Greys dominate, as usual for a lithograph, with even light and no strong shadows. The mood is caricatural and cheerful.

Context

On 4 June 1870 the sheet appeared in the satirical paper 'Le Charivari', as part of the series 'News of the day'. With it Daumier takes aim at the current debate over the Statue of Liberty, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and still unfinished in 1870. The reference to the 'Apollo of the new opera' alludes to the Paris Opéra then under construction, whose facade was to be fitted with sculptures.

Impact

The mix-up between two famous monuments, sharpened in the caption, produces a comic effect. Daumier's satirical view of the art world of his day is reinforced by the exaggerated figures and the ironic clash of high culture (opera) with a popular symbol (Statue of Liberty).

Technique

The sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, a process Daumier often used because it allowed fast, cheap editions. The drawing was transferred to a stone and printed from it; the greys came from varying the amount of ink applied. The third state (Delteil) shows slight signs of wear on the stone, pointing to a large print run.

AI-generated description text

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