1962.67 Honoré Daumier, Just look what a degenerated and corrupt world we are living in! . . . all these people just look at more or less monstrous paintings and not one of them stops in front of a painting depicting the beauty and purity of nature!

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Between May 30, 1864, and June 24, 1865, Le Charivari published ten prints from Daumier’s series As You Like It. Here, a man gestures toward a landscape painting on view at the annual Salon. Daumier created these works during a time of intense debate about the supremacy of “monstrous” history painting over the lower ranked, more crowd-pleasing genre of landscapes. An artist’s career was often at the mercy of this debate, as the Salon jury frequently gave a mediocre, moralizing history painting favored placement over a superbly rendered depiction of nature. This practice was rooted in a long-standing Academic tradition dating back to at least the 17th century that placed history painting at the top of a hierarchy of genres. It was thought to require greater intellectual and technical skill and had educational value.

Excerpt from

Martha MacLeod, DMA label copy, 2016.

NOTES

Created 1865

October 2016

Checked Piction

plate 6, state 3

Dorothy Kosinski, DMA label copy, 1997.

This lithograph is the sixth of nine in the series Sketches Made at the Salon (Croquis pris au Salon). Here Daumier pokes fun at the amateur, bourgeois art critic at the Parisian Academy's annual exhibition who laments current artistic tastes: "What a degenerate and corrupt society is ours!...All these people only look at the canvas representing scenes more or less monstrous; not a single one stops before a painting representing the image of beautiful and pure nature!"

Daumier's satirical comment commentaries cut a wide swath through contemporary French society. Through simple scenes of everyday life or high-minded allegory, Daumier's lithographs skewered not only the art world and the bourgeoisie but also the government, the courts, the aristocracy, and the lower class. Hundreds of images, such as At the Salon, were published in the subversive Parisian journal Charivari

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Daumier, Honoré (French, 1808-1879)

Cultures

Geography

Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Process/materials

Lithography on paper

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC~Read a biography of Daumier from the NGA.

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1962.67

General Description

Between May 30, 1864, and June 24, 1865, Le Charivari published ten prints from Daumier’s series As You Like It. Here, a man gestures toward a landscape painting on view at the annual Salon. Daumier created these works during a time of intense debate about the supremacy of “monstrous” history painting over the lower ranked, more crowd-pleasing genre of landscapes. An artist’s career was often at the mercy of this debate, as the Salon jury frequently gave a mediocre, moralizing history painting favored placement over a superbly rendered depiction of nature. This practice was rooted in a long-standing Academic tradition dating back to at least the 17th century that placed history painting at the top of a hierarchy of genres. It was thought to require greater intellectual and technical skill and had educational value.