Description of the picture:
The legislative womb is Honore Daumier. 1834. Lithography.
The caricature master, Honore Daumier, moving from satire and caustic talking features and his own moral identity, was able to elevate this newspaper genre into the field of art. Working in the technique of lithography, Daumier created a unique aesthetic scale, where the grotesque is valued on a par with the portrait resemblance, and the drama borders on accusation and exaggerated truth. Certainly, Honore Daumier was not only a very professional, but also a brave master.
Lithograph “Legislative Womb” was a kind of landmark work by Daumier – the creator showed his brilliant mastery of the caricature portrait, choosing a group portrait for this.
In front of the audience are members of the parliament of the July monarchy. The wide benches, arranged in the form of an amphitheater, provide an opportunity to examine everyone, and contemporaries of Daumier easily recognized the “ruling of this world.” The master exaggerates the physical properties, but the moral properties, as if by themselves disfigure the faces, and still the portrait resemblance is so merciless that one can only admire the author’s courage.
What is read on the faces of representatives of parliament? Anger, laziness, dullness, arrogance, pride, boredom, venality and swagger. Moving from hero to hero, you note that each portrait is very individual, but with a holistic perception, you come to the conclusion with surprise that pointed individualism develops into a kind of generalization, where impenetrable stupidity and futility reigns. From private irony to general grotesque and denunciation – this is the amazing effect that Daumier managed to achieve.
The meeting, which should be devoted to the fate of the people and the country, is engaged in completely different things: someone is poisoning bikes, someone is sleeping openly, and some just stared at the ceiling with blank looks. Repulsive faces, ugly thick figures. The chairman put his hand on the railing, as if he had forgotten what he was supposed to say to the parliament.
The master’s technique itself also deserves special attention. The author does not achieve a flat image of the figures – all of his characters are voluminous and plastic. Daumier just seemed to create a voluminous black and white drawing, the viewer at some point forgets that this is lithography.
All his life Honore Daumier fought corruption and corruption in a way known to himself – caricature. He was incredibly poor, and the audience eagerly awaited the release of a new caricature of a fearless master. Today, Daumier’s work is worth its weight in gold, and the fact that this is the highest art does not cause any doubt."