Honoré Daumier
Feminist Writers - I am the Author of This Remarkable Play!!
1844

Name: Feminist Writers - I am the Author of This Remarkable Play!!
Brand: Honoré Daumier
Price: 475 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

HONORE DAUMIER (1808 – 1871) LES BAS-BLEUS - THE BLUE STOCKINGS, 1844 (Daumier Register; Delteil, 1227 ii/ii) Lithograph as published in "Le Charivari" March 17, 1844. Plate 17 from the series Les Bas Bleus on thin wove paper with text on verso. 7.36 x 8.62 inches. LES BAS-BLEUS is a series of 40 numbered lithographs, which appeared in the Charivari between January 30, 1844 and August 7, 1844. The usual centerfold from the folded publication. A sheet of acid free black paper placed behind to minimize the text from the verso Provenance: The Richard Vogler Collection. Vogler's Collection of the caricatures of George Cruikshank, now at UCLA, was the largest private collections of his work in America. From the "Daumier Register" website: TRANSLATION (The audience at the Odeon Theatre.) - Author... Author!.... Author! - Gentlemen, your impatience is about to be rewarded.... You want to know the author of this remarkable play that has just obtained such a great, and I must say, justified success.... that author... is MEEEEE....! LES BAS-BLEUS (The bluestockings) is a series of 40 numbered lithographs, which appeared in the Charivari between January 30, 1844 and August 7, 1844. ALBUM LES BAS-BLEUS. The series (“Les Bas-Bleus”) proved to be of such a success with the public, that apart from the Charivari edition a separate edition was published on single white sheets and sold at an up-market price to collectors. Apart from that, an album LES BAS-BLEUS was published in the same year (1844). ABOUT THIS PRINT. The Odéon theatre in Paris opened in 1797 and merged in 1946 with the Comédie Française. It reopened again in 1959 as an independent theatre under the name Théatre de France. This print shows an enthusiastic public applauding the author at the opening night. It seems that the female author had hidden behind a male name. The applause stops when the audience fully realizes the deception. This print can be seen in reference to George Sand's play "Cosima", which also had been rejected by the public under similar circumstances. BLUESTOCKINGS. The expression "Bluestocking” (or suffragette) dates back to 18th century England. At that time, angry young gentlemen of society met in London at the Montague House to discuss literary and political questions of their time. As a sign of protest against the establishment they wore blue wool-socks instead of black silk stockings. The expression was taken over by 19th century France to ridicule the new movement carried by Jeanne Désirée (1832), Cécile Fourmel, Suzanne Vailquin, and Claire Demar. George Sand and Flora Tristan joined the group later. Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788), famous writer and scientist, as well as Madame de Staël (1766-1877) strongly supported the movement. One of the main arguments of male opposition against the suffragettes was that the working women would tend to neglect their families. The anti-feminist writers and draftsmen of the Charivari were true followers of the trend (from the masculine point of view). In nearly 60 plates of the series LES BAS BLEUS, LES DIVORCEUSES and LES FEMMES SOCIALISTES, Daumier ridiculed the feminist movement, concentrating however mainly on the new system’s high priestesses and their silly followers. At the end of the series, he turns the joke upon himself, when some blue stockings bitterly complain that his caricatures had maligned them. According to Dubreton, George Sand's novels had the effect of a revolution after Madame de Staël's old fashioned and stuffy "Corinne". France welcomed the event of a truly lyric novel. Her attack on social shackles, against the "fait social" already denounced by Stendhal, her veiled though unmistakable apotheosis of free love, filled society with astonishment and rapture. What a fresh source of inspiration for the artists. But women, not satisfied with fiction only, adopted free and easy manners and acted George Sand literally. Like Sand, they started to dress up like her, like a man, with a cigar in their mouths, booted and spurred; talking about clubs and sports; words that were new in those days, hoping to impress the world by their audacity and extravagance. Thus the old framework was broken up. Among the upstart bourgeoisie, also the lioness (the bas bleu) won a place.

Creator:

Honoré Daumier (1808 - 1879, French)

Creation Year:

1844

Dimensions:

Height: 8.62 in (21.9 cm)Width: 7.36 in (18.7 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

Realist

Period:

1840-1849