1855
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Les alliés s'appretent a pousser les opérations ... is a 1855 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
Two men sit in a shadowed room, one wearing a big, fancy hat and reading a paper closely. The other watches quietly, hands clasped, both caught in a moment of quiet focus. The scene is drawn in soft black and gray tones, with no bright colors. This is a satire — the grand outfit and serious look mock how leaders often act more dramatic than effective. Honoré Daumier made many such prints, using art to quietly criticize politics and power in 19th-century France. He worked as a draftsman and published his drawings in newspapers, reaching regular people. The print was made using lithography, a method where an artist draws on stone with a greasy crayon, then ink sticks only to the drawing, letting the image be copied. Daumier used this technique to share sharp, timely observations. Look up lithography to see how it changed printmaking. (Word count: 118)
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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