leaving the poor and lower middle class with no housing. In an 1852
lithograph, Daumier’s apartment dweller literally looks on the bright side of
his neighbors’ loss: At last the sun will shine on my potted plant... (1852).
Daumier also made many paintings and lithographs about artists, their
exhibitions, and their studios. Our example is In the Studios: Fichtre! ...
Épatant! ... Sapristi! ... Superbe! ... ça parle! (Wow! Amazing! Gosh! Superb!
It speaks!) (1862). The superlatives issue from the mouth of the tall central
¿ gure, no doubt a connoisseur in his own mind.
The responses of the other men are more varied.
The man leaning into the picture with a pleased
look may be Daumier himself.
The population growth of Paris during Napoleon
III’s reign (called the Second Empire) was
continuous, and the conditions were, of course,
hardest on the lower classes of society. We
see this depicted in The Third-Class Carriage
(c. 1863–1865). The scene is quite crowded. In
the foreground are an older woman with a basket, a mother nursing her child,
and a sleeping boy. Note the interior drawing—that is, the drawing with the
brush—that describes the mother’s collar, her breast, her face, and her hands.
The painting has great presence.
Our last work by Daumier is Street Show (Clown) (c. 1868). The frantic
waving of the clown (saltimbanque), the energized line, and the booming
of the drum imply that this picture is about more than just street performers
drumming up an audience. Interpreting this painting is tricky. It may be a
premonitory work, anticipating the disaster of the Franco-Prussian War of
1870-1871; it may have been a response to the political backlash that the
French government’s reactionary policies inspired; or it may even have been
a celebration of the passage of a liberal press law and a freedom of assembly
bill in May 1868.
Our next artist is Jean François Millet (1814–1875), one of the great Realist
painters. Although he painted peasants, Millet never condescended or
Daumier also made
many paintings
and lithographs
about artists, their
exhibitions, and
their studios.