“- Yes alright, but the poor boy's belly is hurting,” plate 13 from Les Papas Possibly 1847

Curator: Here we have " - Yes alright, but the poor boy's belly is hurting," plate 13 from "Les Papas," a lithograph print by Honoré Daumier, likely created around 1847. The artwork resides here at the Art Institute of Chicago. What's your immediate take on this scene? Editor: Oh, it's wonderfully chaotic, isn't it? That frantic energy! You can almost hear the baby wailing. The father looks so exasperated, and the whole scene is just bursting with… well, with Parisian-street-life-realness. Curator: Exactly. Daumier used lithography—a process involving drawing on stone with a greasy crayon—to achieve that distinctive texture and those subtle gradations of tone. The accessibility of printmaking allowed for mass distribution, crucial for disseminating his social commentary. Consider the paper itself: likely a lower grade, befitting the print's satirical purpose and widespread consumption. Editor: Satire is spot on. The faces, slightly exaggerated, full of…humanity. The lines are so raw, so full of nervous energy. He manages to distill everyday dramas, you know? It’s not just the literal “poor boy’s belly,” but everything about their… social class? Curator: Daumier’s work frequently critiques bourgeois society, often exposing the follies and hardships of ordinary people through caricature. Note how the clothing designates the figures. The man’s somewhat tattered suit and the woman’s heavy shawl indicate their working-class status. This reflects the economic disparities in 19th-century Paris and the realities of childcare burdens faced by many families. The title too implicates economic tension as Daumier shows how children are cared for under stressful conditions. Editor: He definitely captures the emotional landscape. You get a visceral sense of how exhausting raising kids can be. Makes me think, how little that really changes, despite all our... progress. Even now! Curator: Indeed. And lithography as a medium speaks to that immediacy and accessibility. It's a technique deeply entwined with the rise of newspapers and public discourse during that period, serving as a powerful tool for social and political engagement. Editor: Looking at this print, this snapshot, reminds you of art’s power, that little window into life and all its messiness, anxieties and everyday beauty. Curator: Precisely, Honoré Daumier created work deeply invested in documenting and questioning the material realities of 19th century French society.