1880
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Nos saltimbanques is a 1880 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, depicting Beheaded Head, held at National Gallery of Art.
This lithograph shows four funny-looking performers. One big guy holds two upside-down men in mid-air. Their bodies bend like rubber. The artist uses thick, scratchy lines to make them look wobbly and silly. Daumier often mocked society in his art. Here he picks on street performers—people who juggle or clown for spare change. The joke feels sharp but also a little sad. Want to see more like this? Look up Daumier, Honoré.
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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