Honore daumier biography caricature art

He earned a living producing caricatures and cartoons in newspapers and periodicals such as La Caricature and Le Charivari , for which he became well known in his lifetime and is still remembered today. He was a republican democrat working class liberal , who satirized and lampooned the monarchy, politicians, the judiciary, lawyers, the bourgeoisie, as well as his countrymen and human nature in general.

Daumier was a serious painter, loosely associated with realism , sometimes blurring the boundaries between caricature and fine art.

Daumier caricature

Although he occasionally exhibited at the Parisian Salon , his paintings were largely overlooked and ignored by the French public and critics of the day. Yet Daumier's fellow painters, as well as the poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire , noticed and greatly admired his work. Later generations would recognize Daumier as one of the great French artists of the 19th century, profoundly influencing a younger generation of impressionist and postimpressionist painters.

Daumier was a tireless and prolific artist and produced more than sculptures, paintings, 1, drawings, 1, wood engravings, and 4, lithographs. Daumier came from a poor family and was working by the age of 12, first at a huissier de justice , then at a bookstore frequented by artists where he began to draw. After the July Revolution of he begin working for satirical political papers that were highly critical of the new monarch Louis Philippe I and his court.

He was jailed for several months in after the publication of Gargantua , a particularly offensive depiction of the King, Louis Philippe. After his release Daumier resumed publishing political lithographs until the September Laws were passed in , limiting the freedom of the press.