1850
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
L'empereur soulouque ... is a 1850 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
Daumier shows a man in a top hat holding another person upside down over a bubbling cauldron. This wasn’t just silly humor. Daumier used prints to mock France’s short-lived emperor. His exaggerated style poked fun at power. Look for the man’s wild eyes and the victim’s flailing legs. Daumier often used this bold, comic style in political cartoons. It’s called lithography. You roll ink on stone to make prints like this. See how he twists reality? Check out lithography next.
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 pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
