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Art

Ten Lithographs by Honoré Daumier
Lithography begins with a stone: the artist draws directly on smooth limestone, and thousands of prints are pulled from it. Honoré Daumier worked with such stones for thirty years, satirizing the July Monarchy. For "Gargantua," he was imprisoned in Sainte-Pélagie, and after "Rue Transnonain," the government bought up the prints and destroyed the stone itself. Ten of his sheets, from the pear-shaped Louis-Philippe to the Bonapartist scoundrel Ratapoil, demonstrate how a cheap newspaper image became both a weapon and an art form.
"Gargantua" by Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1831.
"Masks of 1831" (Masques de 1831) by Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1832.
"Past, Present, Future" (Le passé, le présent, l’avenir) Honoré Daumier, lithograph for La Caricature, 1834.
"Gotcha, Lafayette!" (Enfoncé Lafayette!) Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1834.
"Legislative Belly" (Le ventre législatif) by Honoré Daumier, lithograph for L’Association mensuelle, 1834
"Don't touch!" Honoré Daumier, lithograph for L’Association mensuelle, 1834.
"Lower the curtain, the farce is played" Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1834.
"Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834" by Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1834.
"It wasn't worth killing ourselves over!" Honoré Daumier, lithograph, 1835.
"Ratapoil. Propaganda" (Ratapoil faisant de la propagande) by Honoré Daumier, lithograph for "Le Charivari," June 19, 1851.
The pear-king on a toilet-seat throne swallows the gold brought to him by the emaciated people and drops down orders and parliamentary seats for his retinue. For this lithograph, Daumier received six months in the Sainte-Pélagie prison in 1832.