1849
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Arm. Jacques Lherbette is a 1849 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a big-headed man in a fancy suit, holding a rolled-up paper. His face is smooth, his hair is wild, and he looks like he’s walking toward you. Behind him, a crowd of smaller, blurry faces watches—some are dressed up, some are plain. The giant head is the joke here. It’s not realistic—it’s funny and exaggerated, like a cartoon. The artist used quick, sketchy lines to make it feel alive. Next, check out lithography to see how artists like this made prints with stone and ink.
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
See the richer artist page
