“- What a fuss this sour-face from the fifth floor is making! Wearing a hat just to buy two cups of milk for one sou! - Oh, Madame Capitaine, aren't we fancy today...,” plate 36 Types Parisiens 1840

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph, plate 36 of "Types Parisiens," using ink on paper. The composition features three figures whose exaggerated features are brought into focus through the artist's use of line and shading. Notice how Daumier uses hatching and cross-hatching to create depth and texture, particularly in the clothing of the women, which contrasts with the smoother faces. Daumier masterfully employs caricature to satirize social types, using the semiotic language of fashion to hint at class distinctions. His art offers a structural commentary on the dynamics of Parisian society through the use of these archetypal characters. Note the economy of line; with just a few strokes, Daumier conveys not just form, but also attitude. It is this tension between the observed and the interpreted that allows the viewer to decipher the nuances of social critique embedded in the visual structure.