Faut-y faire une lettre pour l'attendrir? 1845

This lithograph, “Faut-y faire une lettre pour l'attendrir?” was created by Honoré Daumier using limestone and greasy lithographic crayons. Daumier made his name producing images like this, which appeared in the popular press. The lithographic process allowed for relatively quick reproduction of images, but it was still labor-intensive. First, Daumier would have had to create his image in reverse on the stone. The application of ink was also a skilled process: too much, and the image would be blurry; too little, and it would be faint. Given the number of impressions that Daumier’s prints achieved, many hands would have been involved in their production, representing a considerable investment of labor. What’s more, the image depicts laborers – the downtrodden, caught in the wheels of justice. The questions it poses about class and labor are thus baked into the lithograph itself.