Meanwhile they keep on insisting that she has never been better!, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, September 24, 1872
Original title: Meanwhile they keep on insisting that she has never been better!, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, September 24, 1872
kurzbeschreibung
A woman lies stretched out on a bed that drifts over water beneath an almost black sky. Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1872, and it appeared on September 24 of that year in the series 'Actualités' in the magazine Le Charivari. The print reads as a satirical comment on the political condition of France after the Franco-Prussian War.
Description
Wrapped in white cloths, a woman with crossed arms rests on the bed; her head is turned upward and her expression exhausted. The bed seems to float on a stretch of water, while a nearly black sky fills the upper part of the image. No other figures or objects appear; everything stays in black and white and is centered on the middle. The caricatural note is reinforced by the accompanying caption.
Context
The lithograph was made in 1872, only a few years after the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. Daumier published it in the satirical magazine Le Charivari as part of his series 'Actualités'. The figure of the sick woman drifting on the water is widely seen as an allegory of France's condition. This is the second state of a two-state lithograph.
Impact
A sense of oppression and irony lie close together in this print: the gloomy setting is in tension with the sarcastic caption, and that very contrast shapes the impression. Because everything is arranged toward the center and the visual language is reduced to essentials, the allegorical meaning stands out clearly without becoming insistent.
Technique
The print was made by lithography on newsprint, as was usual for satirical sheets of the time. This process allows fine tonal gradations, which can be traced both in the white cloths and in the dark sky. According to the Delteil catalogue, the print exists as the second of two states.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)