Lot 95 A
95 A
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)

Details
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)

'Chevandier de Valdrome', A Bronze Bust

stamped 'MLG BRONZE' and numbered on the inside '23/25'
7 1/8in. (18.cm.) high, dark green patina
Literature
M. Gobin, Daumier Sculpteur, Geneva, 1952, no. 14, illustration of the original clay model p. 193
J. Wasserman, Daumier Sculpture, A Critical and Comparitive Study, Cambridge, 1969, illustration of the original clay model p. 41, discussion of Chevandier de Valdrome pgs. 54-56
Sagot-Le-Garrec, Daumier Sculpteur-Les bustes des Parlementaires, Paris, 1979 (other bronze examples illustrated)

Lot Essay

The present bust is one from a set of 36 surviving Parlementaires that were modeled circa 1832-4 and cast between 1929 and 1948. Daumier presented the plaster models in the 1830's to Charles Philipon the editor of two satirical magazines, La Caricature and Charivari. These magazines, among many others, were highly critical of the government of the day. Philipon hired illustrators and writers with republican and anti-authoritarian sentiments to fill his magazines. Daumier's first work for him appeared in La Caricature in March, 1832.
The Philipon family sold the set in 1927 to Maurice Le Garrec who arranged for them to be cast in bronze by the Barbedienne foundry in an edition of 25. The initials MLG on the back of each bronze refer to him.