The First Cigar 1843

Curator: This is Honoré Daumier's lithograph, "The First Cigar." It's part of a series titled "Les Beaux Jours de la Vie," or "The Beautiful Days of Life." Editor: What strikes me is the contrasting expressions. One man looks positively ill, the other supremely self-satisfied. Curator: Daumier often used his art to comment on bourgeois society. Here, the cigar functions as a symbol of aspiration, a rite of passage. The materials available to Daumier at the time, like lithographic crayon and transfer paper, aided his mass production for periodicals. Editor: It’s heavy with the visual language of status. The cigars themselves are miniature scepters, and their shared act seems almost ritualistic. Consider the weight of tobacco as a signifier of wealth and leisure in 19th-century Europe. Curator: Exactly! It brings to light the socio-economic conditions of that time, where leisure activities were increasingly commodified. Editor: An enduring image, a wry commentary on the human pursuit of pleasure and belonging.