Soyez donc pas dégouté comme ca ... c. 19th century

This lithograph was made by Honoré Daumier in nineteenth-century France, using the then-new printmaking technique to create images for mass consumption. Lithography allowed artists to draw directly onto a stone with a greasy crayon, and then transfer that image onto paper using ink. The resulting prints, like this one, have a distinctive texture and tonal range. Daumier used lithography to create satirical images of French society, commenting on the class system and the lives of ordinary people. Here, we see the upper class and the working class. A man in a top hat looks at two workers inside a barrel of grapes, crushing them with their feet. The grapes are in the process of becoming wine for the upper classes to consume. Daumier's choice of lithography as his primary medium was itself a political act, using a technique of mass production to create prints that were accessible to a wide audience and addressed social issues of labor and inequality. The work itself embodies the physical labor of the working class. In this way, Daumier challenged traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.