| Early nineteenth century France was an exhilarating | | | | around 3,958. |
| and sometimes a treacherous world of revolutions. It | | | | During the reign of the then French King, Louis Philippe, |
| was flavored with a mix of propriety and | | | | Charles Philipon, a French artist & journalist, |
| sensuousness, which eventually helped the | | | | founded a satirical daily, Le Charivari, on Dec 01, 1832. |
| development of new artistic and the literary modes of | | | | The artist soon joined the Charles' competent staff, |
| production. In this era, the world was gifted with the | | | | with his caricatures being a fixture for forty years. He |
| excellent artists, such as Honore Daumier, a | | | | developed an uncanny ability to exaggerate famous |
| caricaturist, painter, printmaker, and sculptor. He | | | | figures' features to an unrecognizable level, while |
| covered a wide range of subjects, spanning from | | | | keeping it spiced with humor. He targeted social and |
| literature, society, and science to the art world. | | | | political wrongs, especially of social big wigs and |
| Honore Daumier was born as 'Honore Victorin | | | | government. Daumier was even proved guilty of |
| Daumier' on February 26, 1808, in Marseille, to | | | | lèse-majesté (violating the dignity of a |
| Jean-Baptiste Louis Daumier and Cécile | | | | sovereign ruler), because of his caricature of the King |
| Catherine Philippe. In 1814, Jean-Baptiste shifted to Paris. | | | | as "Gargantua" (1831), a lithograph. Consequently, |
| The artist and his mother joined Jean in 1816. Since his | | | | Honore was imprisoned for six months in 1832. Soon |
| youth, Honore loved artistry, a passion Jean | | | | Le Charivari replaced La Caricature, with Daumier |
| disapproved of. To divert the artist's interests, Jean | | | | continuing with his social caricature, resuming political |
| made him work first as an errand boy and then as an | | | | satire in 1848. His popularity led to the series called |
| assistant to a bookseller. In 1822, Alexandre Lenoir, | | | | "L'Association mensuelle," (1834), which included "The |
| Jean's friend and an artist & archaeologist, | | | | Legislative Belly" & "Rue Transnoinan" and special |
| became Honore Daumier's patron. Soon, in 1823, the | | | | editions known as "Sur Blanc" (1843). |
| artist enrolled at the Académie Suisse. His | | | | Daumier created a notable number of sculptures in |
| formal art training did not last long and in 1825, he | | | | unbaked clay. His sculpture, "Ratapoil," (1851) is a |
| became an apprentice to the lithographer named | | | | wondrous piece of art. Meanwhile, he left Charivari in |
| Belliard. Here, Honore got his first hand trials with | | | | 1860 to rejoin in 1864. Great painter also that he was, |
| lithography. | | | | Daumier was a pioneer of 'Naturalism' with a probing |
| Daumier started his professional artistic pursuits with | | | | honesty of vision and a powerful directness. One of |
| lithography. He worked for advertisers and music | | | | his masterpieces includes "Christ and His Apostles." |
| publishers. He drew images, mostly caricatures, directly | | | | Sadly, as a painter, Honore saw success only in 1878. |
| on the lithographic stone or the wood-engraving blocks | | | | Through his life, strict censorship rules led Daumier to |
| using greasy pencil or soft litho crayon. He would draw | | | | abandon 'political satire' and focus on the 'Parisian' type, |
| a reverse image directly on the surface of a polished | | | | paving way for 'Realism.' His images crossed cultural |
| limestone, for a right printed image. "Masques de" (1831) | | | | and earthly boundaries. His works continue to grace |
| and "Le passé, Le present, L'avenir" (1834) are | | | | some of the world's leading art museums, including the |
| a couple of his greatest lithographs. A compilation of | | | | Louvre. Honore Daumier turned blind with age and |
| Honore's lithographed plates numbered somewhere | | | | passed away on February 10, 1879. |