Honore daumier biography caricature app

Biography of Honoré Daumier

Honoré Daumier was a French graphic artist, painter, and sculptor. He was born in Marseille in 1808 and moved to Paris with his family when he was still a child.

Early in his career, Daumier worked various jobs, including being a messenger for a lawyer, a bookseller, and a lithographer. He took drawing lessons and studied antique sculpture at the Louvre. He also worked in the workshop of Eugène Budin.

In 1830, Daumier's first lithographs caught the attention of Charles Philipon, the publisher of the liberal political journal "Caricature." Daumier began publishing his lithographs in the journal under the pseudonym "Rogelin." One of his caricatures, depicting Louis-Philippe as Gargantua, landed him in prison for six months.

When "Caricature" was banned in 1835, Philipon started another humorous journal called "Charivari," and Daumier consistently published his lithographs in it for almost forty years. He mocked the flaws and weaknesses of the petty bourgeoisie, attacked enemies of progress, and addressed political themes within the limits of censorship.

Daumier's lithographs were released in series, with around 4,000 lithographs being produced in total. For example, his series "Ancient History" (1841–1843) satirized the already banal classicism in the style of Jacques-Louis David. In the series "Karikaturana," the main character of the popular melodrama, Robert Macaire, was portrayed as a typical charlatan. Lawyers, doctors, and politicians also frequently became victims of the artist's sharp wit.

Despite his success as a lithographer, Daumier found less and less time for painting, which he became increasingly interested in, despite his paintings receiving harsh criticism from Salon critics. From 1860 to 1864, he stopped working as a lithographer altogether, but extreme financial need forced him to return to this occupation.

In 1873, Daumier lost almost all of his eyesight, depriving him of this means of livelihood. The artist Corot, who admired Daumier's genius, saved the old master from having his property confiscated by the court.

Daumier died in poverty on February 10, 1879, in the suburb of Paris, Valmondois. The number of fake paintings attributed to Daumier possibly exceeds the number of his authentic works. His unfinished painting, "Third-Class Carriage" (New York, Metropolitan Museum), provides an excellent opportunity to study Daumier's painting technique. Here, the artist's difficult-to-reproduce method is well visible: he started with a framework of contour lines resembling his later lithographs, and then applied thin layers of glazes, creating a dense translucent painting surface. This achieves an effect of sculptural masses. In part, this result can be explained by Daumier's use of small clay models for his paintings. He worked very quickly and had an incredibly accurate visual memory, which makes his created images appear to be taken directly from life.