1858
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Singing Guitarist (recto) is a 1858 by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Daumier shows a street singer with a guitar. The drawing is just lines—no color, no background. But those quick, nervous strokes make him feel alive. You can almost hear his song. This was Paris in the 1800s, full of singers on corners and at fairs. Daumier loved those scenes. His style is rough but full of feeling. See how the lines jump? That’s his trick. Look up Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879).
The first six-string guitars appeared simultaneously in Naples and Paris in the 1770s, and by the end of the 19th century the so-called Romantic guitar played a central role in the popular music of the French capital. Daumier’s drawing reflects this interest in street singers and carnival performers. The agitated, almost frenetic tangle of fine lines drawn in pen and ink imbues the figure with life, so that his voice and instrument seem to vibrate with emotion.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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 page
