GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Famous for his political and satirical cartoons, Honoré Daumier was also a painter and sculptor. His paintings have an unmistakable aspect, at once solid and active, built through a blurred yet precise impasto. His ability to describe the movement and casual attitude of a crowd on an urban street comes from his sharp graphic work. In this oil panel, figures in the foreground examine prints for sale outside a shop. A boy takes a peek into a closed portfolio, while a young man in black closely studies a print representing a woman with children (probably a work by Daumier). Behind them, a worker in a simple cap has turned a concentrated, serious gaze toward another image. Daumier is describing the power of images, the lure of art, as a democratic and shared passion.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 191.
NOTES
Created c. 1860-1863
Object number added to Piction cataloguing for DMA Summer 1986.
“In Paris everything is a spectacle: no other people in the world have had such voracious eyes.”
—Honoré de Balzac, French novelist
Prints displayed in a street-side print shop attract the attention of passersby. Some peer with earnest intensity, others gaze with mild curiosity. A young boy gingerly leafs through a giant portfolio as another child strolls by, barely registering interest. In this small painting, Honoré Daumier examines the act of looking through the varying degrees of those represented, the animating gaze of the artist, who was also a keen observer of Parisian street life, and our own attentive scrutiny.
Heather MacDonald, The Lillian and James H. Clark Associate Curator of European Art, October 2010
A glimpse of Parisian life over 100 years ago may be seen in Honore Daumier's fine little painting Outside the Print-Seller's Shop. Daumier's deep feelin g for ordinary humanity is often more visible in his paintings than in his satiric prints. Here, quit e humble people study a kind of art available to almost anyone - the cheap print. Like second-hand book sellers, print dealer s brought "great culture" to everyone. The plain clothes of the people and the sugges tion of a looming city-scape beyond, capture both the inner and the outer reality of 19th century Paris, which had become a modern metropolis.
Pulled from
Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century," DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13.
Daumier’s small oil on panel Outside the Print-Seller’s Shop offers an apparently casual and unposed glimpse of an urban street scene. The attention of passersby is attracted by prints displayed in a street-side art shop. Some peer with earnest intensity, others gaze with only mild curiosity. Another leafs somewhat gingerly through the sheets in a giant portfolio as a child strolls by, barely registering interest. The true subject of the work can be described as the act of looking, involving not only the various degrees of interest of those depicted but also the animating gaze of the artist, a keen observer of the bustling street life of nineteenth-century Paris, as well as our own attentive scrutiny. This is, in fact, a dominant leitmotif of Daumier’s oeuvre. A major focus of his massive graphic production, for instance, is faces and gestures keenly observed and often ruthlessly satirized. Politicians, professionals, members of the ruling class and the middle-class—all fall victim to his probing glance. In his paintings—and distinct from the sharply critical attitude of his graphic work—Daumier casts a curious but gentle gaze upon the anonymous actors on the rapidly changing nineteenth-century urban stage.
— Dr. Dorothy Kosinski, The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Art at the DMA
1997 guide page 101
Visit these sites for a definition of “caricature.”
Visit these sites to find more information about the artist Daumier and to see his work.
Daumier, Honoré (French, 1808-1879)
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Process/materials
Oil on panel
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 1981.33.FA
Category
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General Description
Famous for his political and satirical cartoons, Honoré Daumier was also a painter and sculptor. His paintings have an unmistakable aspect, at once solid and active, built through a blurred yet precise impasto. His ability to describe the movement and casual attitude of a crowd on an urban street comes from his sharp graphic work. In this oil panel, figures in the foreground examine prints for sale outside a shop. A boy takes a peek into a closed portfolio, while a young man in black closely studies a print representing a woman with children (probably a work by Daumier). Behind them, a worker in a simple cap has turned a concentrated, serious gaze toward another image. Daumier is describing the power of images, the lure of art, as a democratic and shared passion.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 191.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Created c. 1860-1863
Object number added to Piction cataloguing for DMA Summer 1986.
“In Paris everything is a spectacle: no other people in the world have had such voracious eyes.”
—Honoré de Balzac, French novelist
Prints displayed in a street-side print shop attract the attention of passersby. Some peer with earnest intensity, others gaze with mild curiosity. A young boy gingerly leafs through a giant portfolio as another child strolls by, barely registering interest. In this small painting, Honoré Daumier examines the act of looking through the varying degrees of those represented, the animating gaze of the artist, who was also a keen observer of Parisian street life, and our own attentive scrutiny.
Heather MacDonald, The Lillian and James H. Clark Associate Curator of European Art, October 2010
A glimpse of Parisian life over 100 years ago may be seen in Honore Daumier's fine little painting Outside the Print-Seller's Shop. Daumier's deep feelin g for ordinary humanity is often more visible in his paintings than in his satiric prints. Here, quit e humble people study a kind of art available to almost anyone - the cheap print. Like second-hand book sellers, print dealer s brought "great culture" to everyone. The plain clothes of the people and the sugges tion of a looming city-scape beyond, capture both the inner and the outer reality of 19th century Paris, which had become a modern metropolis.
Pulled from
Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century," DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13.
Daumier’s small oil on panel Outside the Print-Seller’s Shop offers an apparently casual and unposed glimpse of an urban street scene. The attention of passersby is attracted by prints displayed in a street-side art shop. Some peer with earnest intensity, others gaze with only mild curiosity. Another leafs somewhat gingerly through the sheets in a giant portfolio as a child strolls by, barely registering interest. The true subject of the work can be described as the act of looking, involving not only the various degrees of interest of those depicted but also the animating gaze of the artist, a keen observer of the bustling street life of nineteenth-century Paris, as well as our own attentive scrutiny. This is, in fact, a dominant leitmotif of Daumier’s oeuvre. A major focus of his massive graphic production, for instance, is faces and gestures keenly observed and often ruthlessly satirized. Politicians, professionals, members of the ruling class and the middle-class—all fall victim to his probing glance. In his paintings—and distinct from the sharply critical attitude of his graphic work—Daumier casts a curious but gentle gaze upon the anonymous actors on the rapidly changing nineteenth-century urban stage.
— Dr. Dorothy Kosinski, The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Art at the DMA
1997 guide page 101
Visit these sites for a definition of “caricature.”
Visit these sites to find more information about the artist Daumier and to see his work.
Daumier, Honoré (French, 1808-1879)
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Process/materials
Oil on panel
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1981.33.FA
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object_notes_2_c-0342.xml.nores