Le dessinateur (The Artist)

Honoré Daumier

1853

Honoré Daumier is best known for his lithographic illustrations in which he sharply satirized politicians and the Parisian bourgeoisie alike, and which circulated widely in the French press from around 1830 to 1870. In contrast to his prolific output as an illustrator, Daumier created only a few hundred paintings, largely figures drawn from contemporary life in Paris. These were rarely shown during his lifetime and were collected primarily by friends and fellow artists. Le dessinateur is one of several dozen of his paintings that explore the theme of the artist and the amateur (lover of art); it shows an artist intently putting pen or brush to paper as a younger man leans in to view him at work. Through the painting’s small scale, dim lighting, and close-up view, Daumier creates an intimate mood. With artworks in the background suggesting an artist’s studio and the sitters unidentified, this scene suggests a universalizing representation of a master and his pupil or admirer, of knowledge passed between generations. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

Artist Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879)
Title Le dessinateur (The Artist)
Date 1853
Medium Oil on panel
Dimensions unframed | 10 1/8 x 13 1/8 in.
Credit line University purchase, Parsons Fund, 1962
Object number WU 3961

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme Workers and Labor

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

Teaching Gallery exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2004 - 03/28/2004

Object Lessons
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/05/2003 - 09/28/2003

Art in the Age of Revolution
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/02/1997 - 10/12/1997

Nineteenth Century Art from the Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/19/1986 - 04/01/1986

Diversity in the Salon: Late 19th-Century French Academic Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 06/02/1985 - 08/11/1985

Life and Land in Nineteenth Century Europe
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 11/06/1983 - 04/22/1984

Nature and the Figure
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/1983 - 03/06/1983

Parsons Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1983 - 08/21/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Charles Parsons: Portrait of a St. Louis Collector
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 12/12/1976 - 01/30/1977

Salon de Resserre: Selections of European and American Art of the Nineteenth Century from the Washington University Collections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/01/1970 - 03/06/1970

Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 04/06/1966 - 05/08/1966

1962
Wildenstein and Co., New York

Inscription Recto, lower left, in black paint:

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