Honoré Daumier, Les Etrangers a Paris,
Une Légere Promenade en Omnibus,
lithograph, no date,  8½" x 7",
Donated by Fra Dana

Honoré Daumier (1808 - 1879)

Daumier was a French printmaker, painter and sculptor whose works provided a commentary on the social and political life of 19^th century France.  He was a prolific draftsman who produced more than 4,000 lithographs and was perhaps best known for his caricatures of political figures and satires on social behavior.

When the comic journal, La Caricature, was inaugurated Daumier was among its staff members, which sharpened his pictorial wit.  He targeted the bourgeoisie, the corruption of the law and governmental incompetence. His caricature of the king as Gargantua, a 16^th century giant known for crude humor, led to his imprisonment for six months at Ste. Pelagic in 1832. Daumier moved to another paper, Le Charivari, with which he continued to be associated throughout the rest of his life.  He was underrecognized during his life, but enjoyed a posthumous exhibition at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1901. At the time of his death, Daumier was blind and living in a cottage at Valmondois, which the painter Camille Corot provided.

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture collection of Honoré Daumier's work includes lithographs from La Caricature and Le Charivari, which were donated by Fra Dana.