1844
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Femme de lettre humanitaire se livrant sur l'homme ... is a 1844 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This lithograph shows a woman in a dark dress and glasses holding a human skull. She sits by a candle, books near her elbow. The light flickers on the bones and her face. Daumier made this to poke at people who talk big about helping others but forget death is part of life. He used lithography so prints could spread cheaply and reach many readers. Check out more of Daumier’s sharp prints at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
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.
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