Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-02-19
THE NORTH WINDOW
by LEILA MECHLIN.

Chardin. but wko was Daumicr?
One Of the worlds greatest artists.
who. for 40 years, toiled as a carl
catCrist and maker Of cartoons and
then produced a few paintings Of
such superior quality that even by
his contemporaries he was ranked
with the master painters of the
Michael Angelo in Daumtsr," said
the great Balzac, and Charles Dau-
bigny. when he first saw the frescoes
OF Raphael in THE Stanza," ex-
claimed: TT is Daumier"', while a
well known. critic of our own time
has declared that in his power he
resembles Tintoretto and Ell Greco
and In his tenderness Rembrandt.
How is 1t, then, some will say, that
Daumier Is so little known here in
America? The answer Is. because
there has been so little opportunity
to see his works; in our greatest
public collections he is but poorly
and infrequently represented. Great,
then, indeed, is the privilege which
the Phillips Memorial Gallery offers
for acquaintance with Daumier's
works, for this gallery now contains
not only one Of his most important
large canvasses but a. number of his
no less famous smaller ones.
And what a fascinating personal
ity, what an engaging figure he was.
The friend OF Delacroix. Of Courbet
and Manet, Of Corot and Baudeclair;
man with an intense consciousness
of kinship with his fellow man, with
broad vision, a keen desire to right
wrongs and powerful Impulse for
artistic expression. Honore Dau-
mier's father was a glazier who had
n leaning to poetry but determt-
nation to uproot any outcroppings o.
artistic inclination which might de-
Velop in his young son. The boy was
therefore put to work early, running
errands and serving writs in a court
house. 1t was while thus employed
that he received those vivid impreI
sions of the ways Of justice which
afterward were set forth in his
forcc.ul drawings.
Despite his fathers efforts. talent
persisted, and the boy, finding he
could make a living with his pencil,
studied TYPOGRAPHY and began draw
ing cartoons. Almost Immediately
he fell under the influence OF the
editor of La ,Caricature. man of
powerful personality. known as Phil
Upon. who with the young drafts
mans strong republican bias" soon
made him into "a furious fighter for
democratic ideals, formidable Zoe
to Louis Philippe and his ministers
In this instance, as in few others.
the artists pencil came to be even
more feared and respected than the
authors pen or the soldiers sword.
So powerful indeed, was this COM
bination of editor and caricaturist
that the paper was finally suppressed
by the government.
Daumier then turned his talents
| into other channels. Laying aside his
sharp weapon, be became the inter-
prefer Of the plain people. and he
became to the bourgeoise of Paris
what Millet was to the French peas
ant. His drawings were satirical
but never cruel. and in most in
stances the purpose of the satire was
to better conditions. One of the
most popular Of his series Of lith-
ographs, publish ed in "Charivari,"
for which he made over 1000 car
toons. dealt with the disordered lives
of derelicts, drunkards. parasites and
enemies of society. BY interpreting
this class he plainly indicated his
scorn of the civilization from which
they sprang. He was keen OBJ
server and recorder Of life. Almos.
UNI of hun1or. and at the same time
that he taught he amused. His car
features served as popular entertain
ment: they were the funny pic
lures" of that day in Paris. But OF
what a superior type. AS Duncan
Phillips, In his admirable essay on
Daumier. published a couple of years
ago. tells us: His line was al
ternately ludicrous and portentous.
mock heroic, fantastic. deliciously
comic. The harmless and amiable
idiosyncrasies of the average middle
class person were as interesting to
Daumier as the desperate ideas of
the derelict and the devious wiles of
the wicked
All his life long Daumier lived IN
poverty, but for the most part he
was not unhappy. He had his art.
his aspirations, his friendships, his
ideals. "Daumier is not like u.s.
said one Of his famous confreres-
''he is generous" Undoubtedly he
crosby extended into the realm of
opinion. which is most rare: in
short, he could be charitable to those
who thought differently from him
self.
An amusing yet pathetic story is
told illustrative Of Daumier's I'M
worldliness. knowing his great need,
one of his painter friends went to an
American art dealer who was visit
ing Paris and told him OF Daumier' s
extraordinary ability. advising him
to purchase his works while he had
opportunity. Are his prices high %
asked the dealer. "Oh. very high" re-
piled the painter friend. The dealer.
being properly impressed, promised
to call at the studio. The friend hast
ened there ahead of him to warn
Daumier OF the call and to tell him
that he must ask 5000 francs for
the painting on his easel Daumier de-
INJURED, declaring the valuation too
high, but the friend persisted and Sc
cured his promise. Scarcely was he
gone when the dealer appeared, look
ed at the picture and asked its price.
Five thousand francs" said Daumier
obedient to instructions. I'll take it
said the dealer; How much is that
one?" pointing to a still larger paint
ing on the floor. For such an emer-
gency the friend had not provided
and Daumier weakly said: six hun
bred francs" At which the dealer
raised his eyebrows and the sale was
lost. At 5000 francs he still would
have had a bargain.
x x X ;.
For IA years Daumier kept valiant
ly at his painting. He did not produce
a great many canyasses, but each one
was masterpiece. Gradually his sight
failed and in little home lent him
by his friend, Corot, in the village OF
valmondois. in 1879, he died. He lived
long enough, however, to witness the
triumph of his art. An exhibition of
his work was held at the Durand-
Ruel Gallery in Paris, in 1878 and all
| intellectual and artistic Paris render
ed homage to his genius.
One of the paintings in the Phillips
Memorial Gallery collection-"The