Charmé de se voir exposé... 1841

Curator: Honoré Daumier created this lithograph titled "Charmé de se voir exposé..." in 1841. It’s a scene from the Salon of 1842. What strikes you initially? Editor: Grumpy! Everyone looks so wonderfully grumpy. Like they've all just stubbed a toe. Or maybe they're just deeply unimpressed by the art! I am immediately drawn to their facial expressions – the intensity of the grimaces is kind of hilarious. Curator: That grumpiness is intentional. Daumier often used lithography for social commentary, targeting the bourgeoisie and their pretensions. He skillfully mass-produced these critiques for wider consumption through print. This piece specifically comments on the art world itself, focusing on the process of artistic display and how artwork can make people happy even it's a caricature! Editor: So, it’s poking fun at both the stuffy art establishment *and* the eager-to-be-seen middle class? Love that kind of double-edged wit. You almost feel sorry for these folks on display – until you realize they’re probably unbearable in real life. It kind of makes you wonder, how aware was he of this role – Daumier as an arbiter, mediating between artistic creation, labor, and bourgeois consumption. Curator: Daumier used lithography—a printmaking technique—for mass production, emphasizing the means of production that democratized access to art and expanded artistic possibility outside of the elitist structures. The work challenges those conventional barriers of artistic hierarchy and social structure. He was aware of how printed imagery had political potential as mass medium. Editor: Thinking about how the lithograph itself becomes part of that consumption... It’s fascinating. I'm always taken by works that know they're being observed. So many little faces are making direct eye contact. It invites us to engage directly in that judgement and social observation that it critiques. We are implicated in it. How brilliant. Curator: Indeed. This print encapsulates a unique intersection of artistic skill, commentary, and a materialist awareness of art's function within 19th-century society. The production methods are at its core! Editor: And you know, perhaps even today!