Human Infirmaties, No. 1: Do you hear me, my dear Sir, what I am telling you? Sir, I hear only too well

MAKER:: Artist
Honoré Daumier ( French, 1808 - 1879 )
DATE:: 1840

General Description

Honoré Daumier depicts two middle-class men engaged in conversation; the man on the right seems to be making a point that the other finds objectionable. Published in Le Charivari on October 11, 1840, the print belongs to a series called Human Infirmities. Here, Daumier avoided moralizing, choosing instead to depict fictive members of the bourgeoisie enjoying the simple pleasures of daily existence. The text, added later, plays with the definition of the word sentir, which in French means to feel or sense, as well as to smell, a humorous allusion to the speaker’s bad breath.

Excerpt from

Martha MacLeod, DMA label copy, 2016.