“- Now I understand why this chap was so quiet all the time..... instead of reading quietly in his Greek dictionary, he was indulging in a novel...!!,” plate 22 from Professeurs and Moutards
Medium
Lithograph in black on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 19 × 24.8 cm (7 1/2 × 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 24.7 × 32.8 cm (9 3/4 × 12 15/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
76372
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Honoré Daumier’s satirical works capture comic moments in daily life; the series Professors and Rascals illustrates scenes from elementary school classrooms. In this print, a student grimaces after a teacher finds a novel smuggled inside a textbook. In another, a young boy desperately attempts to summon the teacher’s attention to be excused to the bathroom, but the teacher is asleep. Lithographs such as these, and their accompanying captions, were published widely in magazines in 19th-century Fr...
About the Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier · 1808–1879
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (1808-1879) was a prolific French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor whose works offered incisive commentary on the social and political life of 19th-century France. Known as the 'Michelangelo of Caricature,' Daumier produced over 4,000 lithographs, 500 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and 100 sculptures during his lifetime. His biting political satire led to his imp...