Honoré DAUMIER (Marseille 1808-Valmondois 1879) - Lot 7

Lot n° 7
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Estimation :
20000 - 30000 EUR
Result : NC
Honoré DAUMIER (Marseille 1808-Valmondois 1879) - Lot 7
Honoré DAUMIER (Marseille 1808-Valmondois 1879) Recto: The spectator Verso: erased studies and sketches Brown wash and brush over black pencil lines Back: wash, pen and black pencil Height 32.5 cm; Width: 30 cm Study for a female spectator in the watercolor Au théâtre, in a private collection in Paris, and in the oil sketch Au théâtre, in the Cincinnati Art Museum Provenance : Former Roger Marx collection Collection A.R., sold in Paris May 4, 1931, no. 58 Former Maurice Gobin collection, stamped on verso (Lugt 1124b) Bibliography : K.E.Maison, Honoré Daumier Catalogue raisonné of the paintings watercolours and drawings, Volume II, The Watercolours and drawings, London 1968, no. 488 reproduced on plate 166. Exhibition: Honoré Daumier, Musée du Louvre, Orangerie, Paris 1934, no. 94 Galerie Sagot-Le Garrec, "Daumier sculpteur", Paris, 1957, no. 68 Maurice Gobin, L'Art expressif au XIXe siècle Français, Paris 1960 Along with justice and politics, theater was one of Honoré Daumier's favorite sources of inspiration. A privileged observer of this social microcosm, he wandered theaters, sketching the motley crowd with amusement. His on-the-spot sketches inspired numerous humorous lithographs that were published in the famous Charivari. But the artist also set his sights on painting the subject, as shown by the oil on canvas Au théâtre in Munich, a true masterpiece from the early 1860s. Our sketch of a female spectator belongs to a group of sheets that can be dated to the second half of the 1860s, and which propose a new vision of the theater, where the female element, which until then had only made timid appearances, becomes dominant. The artist was probably thinking of a composition as ambitious as Au théâtre: a sketch of the composition, preserved in the Cincinnati Museum, a watercolor from the former Rouart collection, now in a Parisian collection, and our study of a spectator bear witness to this vast project. Executed directly with brush and brown wash, without prior drawing, our study shows a perfect mastery of the medium, with a freedom and boldness akin to the spirit of a Goya and heralding Manet's graphic style. The hitherto unknown reverse of our sheet, in which only an armchair and several silhouettes emerge from the chaos, demonstrates the artist's eclecticism and wandering spirit of artistic research. Expert : Cabinet de BAYSER
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