"Recalled with enthusiasm!...and not one hired applauder...there's one who calls himself a real success...and they say that the art of Drama is decaying...let's go!..." 1858

Curator: Here we have Honoré Daumier's satirical lithograph, "Recalled with enthusiasm!...and not one hired applauder...there's one who calls himself a real success...and they say that the art of Drama is decaying...let's go!..." The piece, held at the Harvard Art Museums, presents an intimate domestic scene. Editor: It looks like the kind of moment you'd find in a stuffy bourgeois parlor, all sidelong glances and barely-contained boredom. The performers are practically swallowed up by the expectant audience. Curator: The bowing figures are fascinating symbols of humility and performance. Consider the masks, both literal and figurative, on display as the actors give their final salutations to the crowd, each member a crucial element of what is considered a “success”. Editor: The composition makes me think of theatricality itself, how the masks we wear in society can be just as comical and absurd as those on stage. It’s a pointed commentary, especially for someone who lived through so many political upheavals. Curator: Precisely. It's a glimpse into the subtle absurdities of social rituals. Editor: I wonder, though, if Daumier ever suspected we'd still be laughing, or perhaps wincing, at the same charade centuries later.