1852
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Un service ... pas facile a rendre is a 1852 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
A man dangles from a rope tied to a hot air balloon floating away. Other figures pull on the rope below, trying to hold it down. Their faces show effort and panic. This is a satire, not a real event. Daumier made it as a political cartoon for a French newspaper in 1852. Back then, balloons were symbols of big dreams and failed promises. He used humor to critique leaders and public chaos. The print was made using lithography, a technique where artists draw on stone with a greasy stick and then press paper onto it to make copies. It let Daumier reach many people quickly. Look up lithography to see how this method shaped modern print art.
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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