Honorè Daumier Biography
Honoré Daumier (Marseille, 26 February 1808 – Valmondois, 1879) was a famous French artist and satirist, known for his activity as a painter, sculptor, lithographer and caricaturist. Daumier's father, a glassmaker, restorer and poet, moved to Paris in 1814, where he achieved success with his poems. The family joined him in 1816. Already as a young man, Daumier showed his passion for painting and, thanks to the help of a friend of his father, he enrolled in the private "Académie Suisse" in 1823. From 1825 he was apprenticed to the Belliard lithographer and from 1829 he collaborated with the humorous newspaper «La Silhouette», where he immediately engaged in anti-monarchist political controversy with his satirical cartoons. In 1830 he participated in the revolution that led to the fall of Charles X and the rise of Philip of Orleans to power. From 1830 to 1835 he collaborated with the newspaper «La Caricature», directed by Charles Philipon and Gabriel Aubert, where he published some satirical cartoons which caused him legal problems. In 1832, in fact, he was tried and sentenced to six months in prison and a huge fine. After the trial, he continued to target Louis Philippe and the corrupt government with his caricatures. In 1835, government measures against freedom of the press forced him to modify the themes of his lithographs, focusing on customary subjects. He collaborated on the illustration of the literary monthly «La Chronique de Paris», founded in 1836 by Balzac, for which he also illustrated some novels. The most productive part of his life was between 1830 and 1835, a period during which he created around 1000 wood engravings, 4000 lithographs and a few dozen sculptures, drawings and paintings, mostly intended for private use. In 1848, with the beginning of the new French republic, Daumier resumed his political satire activity with the newspaper "Le Charivari", also dedicating himself to painting, influenced by his friends Camille Corot and Jaen-Francois Millet. In this period he was especially concerned with the precarious social situation and painted some famous works, including "The Third Class Carriage" and "The Soup". Daumier died in 1879 in Valmondois.
