That's what you call a loaded session, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 25, 1870
Original title: That's what you call a loaded session, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 25, 1870
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1870: four men have settled comfortably on the forest floor, with an ancient temple rising behind them. The print appeared as a caricature in the series 'News of the day' in the satirical journal Le Charivari.
Description
Four men lounge on the forest floor, relaxed to the point of exhaustion, among trees and a fallen trunk. Set against them is a columned temple in the distance, its classical severity at odds with the figures' slack postures. Clouds darken the sky and weigh on the mood. Greys, sharp contours and carefully placed shading define the lithographic image.
Context
On 25 May 1870 Daumier published the sheet in the French satirical journal Le Charivari, as part of his series 'News of the day', with which he followed the political and social events of his time. The lithograph falls in the final years of the Second Empire, immediately before the Franco-Prussian War. The title refers to a 'charged session' and most likely means a heated parliamentary debate.
Impact
The first thing to strike the eye is the contrast: monumental temple architecture above casually sprawled men, and from it an ironic tension arises. The dull, overcast light reinforces the satirical undertone. Looking at the print prompts reflection on the mismatch between sublime architecture and human indolence.
Technique
The motif was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, in the second of two states (according to Delteil). This very process allows the finely graded shading and clear contours that are easy to see in the graphic. The sheet measures 29.6 × 29.2 cm, the image area 24.5 × 21.9 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)