Daumier was the great caricaturist of 19th-century France. He published over 4,000 caricatures in French newspapers, but he was also a painter. Like his print work, Daumier’s paintings often depict people on the margins of modern society—in this case, a group of circus performers: two clowns and a little acrobat. Unlike his caricatures, Daumier’s paintings are comparatively rare and often poorly preserved, since he was essentially self-taught and never learned the finer points of oil technique. The Norton Simon’s ownership of both a study and a finished picture is unusual and instructive; the crackled surface of the sketch may indicate how quickly Daumier worked it up, revising the poses and painting over his mistakes before underlying layers had properly dried.
Details
- Artist Name: Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)
- Title: Saltimbanques Resting
- Date: 1870
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 21-1/2 x 25-3/4 in. (54.6 x 65.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: M.1976.06.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Jean Joubert, Paris, by 1901, still in 1922.
[Paul Rosenberg, Paris, stock nos. 1274 and 1151].
C. C. Stillman, by inheritance to;
Dr. Ernest G. Stillman (sale, New York, American Art Association, 3 February 1927, lot 23, ill., as Le Repos des Saltimbanques, to);
[Paul Rosenberg, Paris].
Arthur Sachs, New York and Paris, by 1930, until at least 1939;
[Wildenstein and Co., New York, sold 1955 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1976 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Exposition Daumier
- Paris, École des Beaux Arts, 1901-05 to
[on loan]
- Fogg Art Museum, 1927 to
Taste of Today in Masterpieces of Painting
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1932 to
Exhibition of Important Paintings by Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century organized by Paul Rosenberg and Durand-Ruel for the benefit of The Children's Aid Society and The French Hospital of New York
- New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, 1934-02-12 to 1934-03-10
Daumier, peintures, aquarelles, dessins
- Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1934 to
Cent Ans de Théatre, Music-Hall et Cirque, Dix-neuvième siècle, Organisé au profit de la "Société des Amis du Louvre"
- Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1936-05-25 to 1936-07-13
Daumier 1808-1879
- Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1937 to
Corot, Daumier: Eighth Loan Exhibition
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), 1930-10-16 to 1930-11-23
Honoré Daumier
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1958-11-12 to 1958-12-21
[on loan]
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971-04-01 to
Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900
- London, Royal Academy, 1932-01-04 to 1932-03-05
Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and The Norton Simon Foundation_1
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1973-05-03 to 1976-06-15
Reinstallation of South Wing
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
- Geoffroy, Gustav, Daumier, p. 20
- Rey, Robert, Daumier, pp. 146-147
- Rosenthal, Léon, Daumier, pl. XXXV p. 85-86
- Klossowski, Erich, Honoré Daumier, no. 204, pl. 84
- Sachs, Maurice, Honoré Daumier, pl. 12 p. 23
- Escholier, Raymond, Daumier, p. 8
- Schwicher, Curt, Daumier, no. 10
- Klossowski, Erich, Honoré Daumier, no. 204 pp. 84, 104
- Art News, pp. 1, 10
- Fontainas, André, Daumier,
- Meier-Graefe, Julius, International Studio, p. 21
- Fuchs, Eduard, Der Maler Daumier, no. 131
- Art News, p. 5
- Escholier, Raymond, Daumier, following p. 40
- Lassaigne, Jacques, Daumier, pl. 146 p. 168
- Gauthier, Maximilien, Daumier, pl. 57
- Adhémar, Jean, Honoré Daumier, no. 160, pl. 160
- Philips, Duncan, Honoré Daumier, Appreciations of his Life and Works, 1922, series no. 2
- Escholier, Raymond, Daumier, Peintre et Lithographe, 1923, opp. p. 8
- Fontainas, André, La peinture de Daumier, 1923, pl. 23
- Sadleir, Michael, Daumier the Man and the Artist, 1924, pl. 9 pp. 33-34
- Soffici, Ardegno, Delado, 1925, p. 415
- Fuchs, Der Maler Daumier, 1930, no. 131, pl. 131 p. 51
- L.M., American Magazine of Art, 1930, p. 707
- Formes, 1931, opp. p. 185
- French Art: An Illustrated Souvenir of the Exhibition of French Art at the Royal Academy of Arts London, 1932, p. 56
- Wildenstein, Georges, Fine Arts, 1932, pp. 54, 56
- Bransten, Ellen H., Pacific Art Review, 1944, p. 22
- Goerges-Michel, Michel, Les Grandes Epoques de la Peinture "Moderne" de Delacroix a nos Jours, 1945, opp. p. 33
- Fleischmann, Benno, Honoré Daumier, 1954, pl. 12
- Alexandre, Arsène, Daumier, 1965, pl. 33 p. 64
- Maison, K. E., Honoré Daumier: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, 1968, no. 185, pl. 136
- Barzini, Luigi; and Gabriele Mandel, L'opera pittorica completa di Daumier, 1971, no. 224
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, pp. 87-88
- Harper, Paula Hays, Daumier's Clowns: Les Saltimbanques et Les Parades, New Biographical and Political Functions for a Nineteenth Century Myth, 1981, no. 43 pp. 131-136
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 122
- Eitner, Lorenz, French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism, 2000, fig. 1 pp. 189-190
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 19 p. 246
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