Prints and Authors in the Time of Manet

Honoré Daumier

The biting political satire of Parisian artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1879) led to imprisonment as well as celebrity for this revered revolutionary. Daumier used his prints to make social commentary about the state of Paris during the Revolution of 1830, a time when freedom of the press was being challenged. Many of his works were criticisms of the French king and his advisors. After spending time in jail for his political agenda, Daumier was released, returning to his production of satirical prints about Parisian life.
Lithography was Daumier’s preferred method of making prints. The medium was new at the time, discovered in 1798, and involves a method of making an image on a piece of flat Bavarian limestone, setting that image into the stone through the application of acid, and then transferring the image to paper.