Honoré Daumier

Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, painter, and sculptor whose satirical eye captured the political and social turmoil of 19th-century France. Born on 26 February 1808 in Marseille, he came from a poor family and was working by age twelve, first for a court clerk, then at a bookstore where artists gathered and he began to draw. He studied under Alexandre Lenoir, attended the Académie Suisse, and mastered lithography, producing advertisements and illustrations by age twenty. After the July Revolution of 1830, he joined the staff of *La Caricature* and *Le Charivari*, where his political cartoons—especially the 1832 lithograph *Gargantua*, which savagely mocked King Louis Philippe—landed him in prison for several months. Upon release, he continued his political work until the September Laws of 1835 curtailed press freedom, after which he turned his wit toward the bourgeoisie, lawyers, and everyday Parisian life. Though his paintings were largely ignored by the public and critics, fellow artists like Charles Baudelaire admired them, and later generations recognized Daumier as a major figure whose work blurred caricature and fine art. He died in Valmondois on 10 or 11 February 1879, leaving behind over 4,000 lithographs, 500 paintings, and 100 sculptures that profoundly influenced the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.