Posted 4 years ago
dav2no1
(839 items)
Les Gens De Justice by Honoré Daumier
Visible Artwork: Approximately 9" x 11"
CIRCA: 1846
ARTIST: Honoré Daumier(French, 1808 - 1879)
Picked this up with a few other interesting pieces. This is not a piece that you normally would come across, so I snagged it up.
Honoré Daumier
"Honoré Daumier famously satirized France’s bourgeoisie(that's the middle class) and justice system, and masterfully exposed the misery of the masses through the emerging medium of lithography. Grotesque caricatures of government officials endeared him to the public, although one-too-many scathing renderings of King Louis-Philippe also landed him six months in prison."
After that lesson he stuck to the safer ground of deriding archetypal professionals such as doctors, professors, and especially lawyers and judges, whom he deemed cruel and pretentious.
He produced about 4000 lithographs and later sculpted busts of members of parliament and painted religious and historical themes in the naturalist style, including many notable images of Don Quixote riding his horse.
At the time his sculptures were hardly noticed. But now they are highly praised for his experimental techniques.
Honoré Daumier biographies
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1209.html