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Man on a Rope
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879)
about 1858
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
110.5 x 72.4 cm (43 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund
Accession Number43.31
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
A caricaturist famous for his scathing social commentary, Daumier earned his reputation primarily as a draughtsman. It was not until a posthumous exhibition held in Paris in 1878 that his paintings gained wide recognition. While Daumier’s political cartoons are often pointed—savagely precise in their references and implications—many of his paintings rely on ambiguity and nuance. This unfinished composition has been variously identified as a dramatic scene of escape and a mundane illustration of a house painter at work. With its bold, graphic style and equivocal subject, this painting is among the most shockingly modern pictures produced in the mid-nineteenth century.
ProvenanceNicolas Auguste Hazard (b. 1834 - d. 1913), Orrouy, France; to his widow, Mme. Hazard (d. 1919), Orrouy; December 1-3, 1919, posthumous Hazard sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 104, to the Galerie Barbazanges for 10,100 francs [see note 1]; until at least 1921, with Barbazanges [see note 2]. Galerie Étienne Bignou, Paris; by 1923, sold by Bignou to the Lefèvre Gallery, London [see note 3]. 1929, Scott and Fowles, New York. 1929, Joseph J. Kerrigan (b. 1886 - d. 1952) and Esther Slater Kerrigan (b. 1892 - d. 1951), New York [see note 4]; January 8-10, 1942, Esther Slater Kerrigan sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 282. Julius Weitzner, New York. 1942, F. Schnittjer and Son, New York; January 14, 1943, Schnittjer sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 22, to Paul M. Byk on behalf of the MFA for $5000. (Accession Date: October 14, 1943)
NOTES:
[1] This is one of two closely-related compositions by Daumier, which were purchased together at the Hazard sale (lots 104 and 105). See "Daumier, 1808-1879" (exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, 1999), pp. 348-349, cats. 199-200. [2] Both versions were lent by Barbazanges to the "Exposition de Peinture Française" (Kunsthalle, Basel, May 8 - June 30, 1921), cat. nos. 54 and 55. [3] On the working relationship between Bignou and Lefèvre, see Douglas Cooper, "A Franco-Scottish Link with the Past," in Alex Reid & Lefèvre, 1926-1976 (Lefèvre Gallery, London, 1976), pp. 17-19. The painting was exhibited by Lefèvre in London, 1923 and 1924. [4] They lent the painting to the "Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, March 6 - April 6, 1929), cat. no. 19.
NOTES:
[1] This is one of two closely-related compositions by Daumier, which were purchased together at the Hazard sale (lots 104 and 105). See "Daumier, 1808-1879" (exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, 1999), pp. 348-349, cats. 199-200. [2] Both versions were lent by Barbazanges to the "Exposition de Peinture Française" (Kunsthalle, Basel, May 8 - June 30, 1921), cat. nos. 54 and 55. [3] On the working relationship between Bignou and Lefèvre, see Douglas Cooper, "A Franco-Scottish Link with the Past," in Alex Reid & Lefèvre, 1926-1976 (Lefèvre Gallery, London, 1976), pp. 17-19. The painting was exhibited by Lefèvre in London, 1923 and 1924. [4] They lent the painting to the "Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, March 6 - April 6, 1929), cat. no. 19.