Realism
HONORÉ-VICTORIN DAUMIER
He was one of the leading figures of the realism art movement in France. He is best known for his caricatures of the 19th century French political and social life. Amongst his realist works he highlights the socio-economic distinctions in the newly modernized France.
Rue Transnonain
The Rue Transnonain is one of Daumier's most famous pieces of work. The social context of this painting is in response to political unrest, presents a dramatic imaging of massacre of innocents. Whilst the piece draws from current events, there is an unnerving sense of silence and anger not found in his other works. It reveals Daumier's emotional rage. Instead of the humor that permeates most of his work, the rage in the Rue Transnonain effectively conveys senseless tragedy and outrage. The picture shown above shows a man dressed in only a night shirt slumped on the ground, after being caught in the crossfire of the massacre and is surrounded by overturned furniture. Under the man lies a body of a bludgeoned child. There is a dramatic light that casts a spotlight upon him. The subject of the matter is graphic but shows the silence and the eerie quiet of the aftermath.
The Rue Transnonain stands alone for its brutal tone and unflinching commentary on what had only recently occurred. Daumier brings together a group of four bodies on one space, and extreme areas of light and darkness, to give the audience an image that summed up the violence of that one night.
Daumier utilizes the same inspiration for the image as he did for most pf his lithographs, which is the desire to bring social injustice to the attention of the masses. It is a poignant allusion to that happened after the crossfire of the massacre.
The composition of the image immediately draws the viewers gaze to the center of the painting, with what seems to be a straightforward picture of a man in nightclothes but with further look into it you notice how he is tangled in linen and lies dead upon a dead baby. Then the two bodies who lie on either side of the image complement each other whilst the bed fills up the rest of the composition.
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