← Honoré Daumier

The Prompter, from 'News of the Day,' published in Le Charivari, February 7, 1870

Original title: The prompter, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 7, 1870

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

February 7, 1870

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 8 11/16 × 8 1/16 in. (22 × 20.4 cm) Sheet: 13 13/16 × 11 3/16 in. (35.1 × 28.4 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier's lithograph Der Souffleur, dated 7 February 1870, presents a grotesquely exaggerated figure peering through an opening with a pipe in his mouth. The print belongs to the series News of the Day and appeared in the satirical journal Le Charivari. It was printed in a single colour on newsprint, in the second of two states (Delteil).

Description

A bespectacled head, its features warped into caricature and a pipe jutting from the mouth, pulls the eye at once as the figure stares through a window or gap. Other heads crowd in around it, also leaning out to look, caught between horror and curiosity; these faces are stylised almost to the point of abstraction. Black on white, with no visible shadows and an even spread of light, the image reads flat. Everything in the layout converges on the main figure, gathering the attention there.

Context

Daumier drew this sheet for News of the Day, which ran in Le Charivari, the Paris journal known for its political and social caricatures. He brought out the work in 1870, a year of political tension just before the Franco-Prussian War. Whether the souffleur figure refers only to the stage role or also glances at political and social affairs cannot be settled with certainty, though that ambiguity is typical of Daumier's approach. The print was issued within the daily edition of 7 February 1870.

Impact

The exaggerated expression is what first draws a smile, yet an uneasy feeling lingers; comedy and discomfort sit close together here. Because the arrangement funnels everything toward the centre and the light stays even, the print speaks directly and clearly, which serves its satirical purpose. Out of the clash between the grotesque and an everyday scene comes a telling example of Daumier's social criticism.

Technique

The sheet was printed lithographically on newsprint, the usual method for mass reproduction in journals. It was rendered in a single colour; the fine strokes and hatching that carry Daumier's hand are characteristic of the process. One speaks of the second of two states (Delteil) because the printing plate was reworked afterwards.

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