Lot Essay
As a young caricaturist, Daumier was employed by 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. Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, had come to power in 1830 on the back of a popular uprising disenchanted with the ultra-conservative policies of the restored Bourbon Monarchy. The July Monarchy, however, soon became as conservative and unadventurous in its turn as the regime it had replaced laying itself open to the satire and mockery of the nation's press. Philipon hired illustrators and writers with republican and anti-authoritarian sentiments to fill his magazines and Daumier's first work for him appeared in La Caricature in March 1832.
It is unclear whether the original concept of the caricature busts stemmed from Philipon or Daumier himself. Certainly there was a tradition in Paris of producing caricature busts in order to lampoon politicians and Philipon may have seen such a series as a potential source of income. In April 1832, Philipon announced his intentions of producing a series of such busts.
"La Caricature...promised a gallery of portraits of the celebrities of the Juste Milieu, whose likenesses conscientiously studied, would possess that energetic character known as Charge. Being used to finding all possible means for its publications, La Caricature deferred the realisation of this project for some time so that it could have each personnage modelled en maquette. These drawings were executed after modellings of clay..." (quoted by J. Wasserman, op. cit., p. 29).
It would seem therefore that following Philipon's encouragement Daumier began work in 1832. Unfortunately, in July 1832 Daumier was sent to prison for six months as a political trouble maker after making a crude lithograph of King Louis Philippe. On his release in January 1833, Daumier would have taken up again his work on the caricature busts continuing it through 1833 and possibly into 1834.
It is not absolutely certain how many busts Daumier actually made at the time. No mention of numbers is made until towards the end of the nineteenth century when records refer to between 34 and 40 busts. It is not unlikely that given the fragile material of the unbaked clay that some may have been lost or damaged beyond repair. Maurice Le Garrec acquired thirty-six busts in 1927 and subsequently had them all cast in bronze.
The art of caricature necessarily encouraged Daumier to distort and render ugly the faces of those he was mocking. But Daumier was concerned not only with his satirical attacks on particular individuals but also with a more artistic interest in exploring the possible variations provided by the shape of the human head. Physiognomy was a popular pseudo science on the nineteenth century and many men were fascinated by the idea that a man's character could be read in the shape of the head and features.
Very few collections are known to possess all thirty-six bronzes. The National Gallery of Washington has the set which was collected on susbscription by Lessing J. Rosenwald. Other complete sets are in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyons, the Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseilles and the Deutsche Akademie der Kunste, Berlin. The set retained by Madame Berthe Le Garrec and the present set (all numbered 19), which once belonged to Count Aldo Borletti di Arosio, are the only complete sets still known to be in existence.
It is unclear whether the original concept of the caricature busts stemmed from Philipon or Daumier himself. Certainly there was a tradition in Paris of producing caricature busts in order to lampoon politicians and Philipon may have seen such a series as a potential source of income. In April 1832, Philipon announced his intentions of producing a series of such busts.
"La Caricature...promised a gallery of portraits of the celebrities of the Juste Milieu, whose likenesses conscientiously studied, would possess that energetic character known as Charge. Being used to finding all possible means for its publications, La Caricature deferred the realisation of this project for some time so that it could have each personnage modelled en maquette. These drawings were executed after modellings of clay..." (quoted by J. Wasserman, op. cit., p. 29).
It would seem therefore that following Philipon's encouragement Daumier began work in 1832. Unfortunately, in July 1832 Daumier was sent to prison for six months as a political trouble maker after making a crude lithograph of King Louis Philippe. On his release in January 1833, Daumier would have taken up again his work on the caricature busts continuing it through 1833 and possibly into 1834.
It is not absolutely certain how many busts Daumier actually made at the time. No mention of numbers is made until towards the end of the nineteenth century when records refer to between 34 and 40 busts. It is not unlikely that given the fragile material of the unbaked clay that some may have been lost or damaged beyond repair. Maurice Le Garrec acquired thirty-six busts in 1927 and subsequently had them all cast in bronze.
The art of caricature necessarily encouraged Daumier to distort and render ugly the faces of those he was mocking. But Daumier was concerned not only with his satirical attacks on particular individuals but also with a more artistic interest in exploring the possible variations provided by the shape of the human head. Physiognomy was a popular pseudo science on the nineteenth century and many men were fascinated by the idea that a man's character could be read in the shape of the head and features.
Very few collections are known to possess all thirty-six bronzes. The National Gallery of Washington has the set which was collected on susbscription by Lessing J. Rosenwald. Other complete sets are in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyons, the Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseilles and the Deutsche Akademie der Kunste, Berlin. The set retained by Madame Berthe Le Garrec and the present set (all numbered 19), which once belonged to Count Aldo Borletti di Arosio, are the only complete sets still known to be in existence.