Honoré Daumier, (1808-1879) was a French
lithographer, caricaturist, and painter. He made lithographic
caricatures of legal and political leaders for newspapers. He was
imprisoned for six months in 1832 for a caricature he drew of King Louis
Philippe, which was entitled Gargantua.
Daumier's lithographs won fame for their biting satire. Many of his
paintings are of traditional subjects. He painted people and places as
he saw them. He pioneered realism in his paintings, but they did not
gain recognition until after his death. One of his best-known realistic
paintings is The Third Class Carriage (about 1862). During his career,
Daumier produced about 3,950 lithographs and about 200 paintings.
Daumier was born in Marseille, the son of a glazier. He was reared in París, and became a bookseller's clerk and a process server to a lawyer. He studied painting with Alexandre Lenoir, but his real training as an artist came from what he observed on the streets and in the courts. His father tried to discourage him from becoming
an artist. In 1877, Daumier became blind. He died at Valmondois, near Paris.
