id:			142682
accession number:	1966.402
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.402
updated:		2024-03-26 01:59:16.919000

The Best Days in Life: An Indian Custom, 1844. Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879). Lithograph; sheet: 31.8 x 22.9 cm (12 1/2 x 9 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1966.402

title:				An Indian Custom
title in original language:	
series:				The Best Days in Life
series in original language:	
creation date:			1844
creation date earliest:		1844
creation date latest:		1844
current location:		
creditline:			Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
copyright:			

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culture:	France, 19th century
technique:	lithograph
department:	Prints
collection:	PR - Lithograph
type:		Print
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: Daumier Register / Delteil 1117 ; Hazard-Delteil 754

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CREATORS

* Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879)  - artist
Honoré Daumier was eight years old when his father, a glazier and frame maker who had decided to pursue his poetic talents in Paris, sent for the wife and three sons he lad left behind in Marseilles. In Paris Daumier studied drawing with Alexandre Lenoir (1761-1839) and at the Académie Suisse. Around 1825 he began a five-year apprenticeship with the publisher and lithographer Zépherin Belliard (1798-?). The July revolution of 1830, which established Louis-Philippe as the constitutional monarch in France, coincided with Daumier's creation of satirical lithographs aimed at this new government. That same year he joined La Caricature, a political journal founded by the republican artist-publisher, Charles Philipon (1802-1862). Daumier's antimonarchist and liberal subjects that were printed in this paper eventually cost the journal censorship and the artist six months in jail (31 August 1832 to 14 February 1833) plus a 300-franc fine. His prison sentence did not deter him from producing political statements and, in fact, only fueled his rage. The subjects of his lithographs became much more aggressive. In 1835 he worked for Philipon's second publication, Le Charivari, a humorous political newspaper that published Daumier's satirical caricature until it, too, suffered censorship under the new government. Although Daumier may be best known for his graphic art, he was also a sculptor and a prolific painter. Sculpture became another medium to produce his infamous caricatures. His friend, Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and editor of La Caricature, saw in these works the force of Michelangelo. In 1834 Daumier began experimenting with painting, both in oil and watercolor. Apart from his Salon entries of 1849 and 1850, his paintings, which totaled over three hundred, were painted primarily for his own pleasure and virtually unknown to the public until after his death in 1879.
* Aubert  - printer and publisher

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measurements: Sheet: 31.8 x 22.9 cm (12 1/2 x 9 in.)
state of the work:	III/III
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	cream wove paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	Above image, printed: LES BEAUX JOURS DE LA VIE / No. 30 ; 
below image, printed: UN USAGE D’INDE. / Mon cher ami, je viens vous faire mon compliment bien sincère.... notre prince est décidément bien / mort, et c'est à vous, le plus ancien officier du palais, qu'est échu l'insigne honneur de condiure ses / femmes sur le bûcher, ou vous vous brûlerez avec elles!....
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	Upper margin, in pencil: R-G2 v.3-4 / 7 / also with text / 30/100 ; 
lower margin, printed: Chez Aubert & Cie. Pl. de la Bourse, 29 / Imp. d'Aubert & Cie. ; 
in pencil: H.D.754 / (Mi-29-2-160) / 9 Nov. 1844 / D.IV.1117 II/II / 40+/
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Leona E. Prasse, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: ?-1966
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1966-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.402/1966.402_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.402/1966.402_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.402/1966.402_full.tif