Daumier, An Artist for All Time?
Thomas Gretton presents a special review of the impact of the 19th century French satirical artist.
Honore Daumier, 1808-79, savaged politicians and poked loving fun at the inhabitants of Paris in more than four thousand lithographs published for the most part in the frequently suppressed political magazine La Caricature and its stable-mate, a magazine of social satire, Le Charivari . Though lawyers as a class come off almost as badly as politicians as individuals, there is in general a marked change in tone between Daumier's political and his social satires. This has usually been explained by reference to France's press laws, which sometimes banned, and sometimes permitted, political caricature. These laws certainly explain the changes in Daumier's subject matter, but they cannot explain the change in tone. As the work of George Grosz shows, images of social satire can be as savage as those of politics.
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