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| PC1970.61
Honoré Daumier French (1808-1879) from
the Robert Macaire series:
1837
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PC1970.65
Honoré Daumier French (1808-1879) from
the Emotionnes Parisiennes series:
1839
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| In
August of 1837, the first of Daumier’s series featuring the character of
Robert Macaire appeared. The series was extremely popular, even though
Daumier himself said it was "the worst thing I have ever done".1
Like much of Daumier’s work, the series was first published in the magazine,
Charivari. Its production was closely supervised by the editor of
the publication, Charles Philipon, who was was the driving force behind
the series. With the September Laws of 1835, which restricted criticism
of King Louis-Philippe, Philipon was forced to look for different venues
for his brand of satire. This led him to switch from political cartoons
focused on the monarch to a satirical series based on the problems of society
as a whole, revealed through the acts of one man, Robert Macaire.2
Daumier executed the 100 lithographs for the series, while Philipon penned
the captions that accompanied each picture.
Robert Macaire was the main character in a five-act play entitled, L’Auberge des adrets, which was first performed in 1823. The play suffered terribly the opening night, but thanks to the ingenuity of the actor Frederick Lemaitre and some major revisions, it soon became quite popular.3 Frederick Lemaître turned the character into a proud, confident, and devious swindler. The Macaire that appeared on the stage, and the one that would appear over a decade later in Daumier’s prints was the epitome of the self-absorbed, self-promoting crook. He represented all of society’s ills in a clownish but pointedly cynical way. The atmosphere of mid-eighteenth century France had a great deal of influence upon the Robert Macaire series. Tocqueville described this period as a time when "France [was] beginning to look like an industrialized company in which every operation is undertaken with stockholder’s profits in mind".4 The comment directly at the spreading tide of the Industrial Revolution. Although France still lagged behind England in terms of commercial growth, it’s economy was nevertheless expanding at a very rapid pace. The fury of this growth was further harangued by the complete lack of governmental control over industry, and as a result, huge amounts of money were invested in a multitude of get-rich-quick schemes.5 Some won, but many did not. This type of society also promoted an increase in crime. With the concentration of populations in large cities such as Paris, street crime and other abuses naturally rose. Number 65 in the Wake Forest collection is evidence of this behavior. The print, Vole! . . . Rue Vide-Gousset . . . was part of the fifty-print series, Parisian Emotions, which dealt with all facets of the Parisian life. The title of the print can best be translated as "Get away!...Street of a Pick-pocket..." It deals with a man, probably one of many, has been a victim of a new type of "businessman." In an age centered around money, many were finding ways to acquire it illegally. Robert Macaire personifies the new type of "entrepreneur." Using every means possible, Macaire seeks to acquire money. Throughout the series, Macaire is a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, a druggist, a restaurant-owner, a merchant, a parliamentary candidate, a marriage broker, and many other occupations. In the Wake Forest print, which is 25th in the series, Robert Macaire is the mendiant distingué, or "genteel beggar." Even in the deplorable situation of begging for money, he retains the air of sophistication through his gestures--the exaggerated posture, puffed-out chest, and extended pinky. Because of the comic nature of Robert Macaire and the cohesiveness of the text and pictures, the series continued to influence French literature beyond Daumier’s lifetime. Daumier even returned to the subject in the early 1840’s in a series of twenty additional prints. Macaire was the perfect vehicle for the criticisms of a complex and deteriorating France. 1.
Adhemar, 1974, 5.
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