1865
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Ouverture de la chasse is a 1865 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
Daumier’s print shows hunters piled on a creaking cart, their hats lopsided, faces twisted in laughter. He drew this in 1865, inked it on stone, then pressed paper—no canvas, no colors—just black lines that still feel alive. The rough shading throws the rowdy men forward while the soft hills fade behind. Look how the driver’s profile juts out like a carved mask. Daumier used lithography to catch a fleeting joke before cameras could freeze it. Compare this to 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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