Blog 9

   Honoré Daumier is best known for his caricature works and he used the classic caricature techniques to depict the cruelty, unfairness and pretension of 19th century French society and politics.     One of his most famous works is the First Class Carriage. This depicts four upperclassmen, two males and two females. For starters, there's random burst of color in this watercolor painting, perhaps this shows that even though France during this time was unfair and cruel, they, being upperclassmen, do not have it all too bad. The four subjects seem to be quite content with their lives, they don't seem worried or even affected by the events that are taking place in France during this time. Also, we cannot discredit their attire. These people are dressed to the nines and are clearly wealthy enough to be privledged to these articles of clothing.

       In contrast, another famous piece by Honoré Daumier is the Second Carriage. And after reading about the First Carriage I can assume you already know what I'm about to say. There's little to no color in this watercolor painting, it's mostly dark colors. This translates to the feelings of these four French people. Sad, hopeless, depressed. These three adjectives were very common to describe the population of France during this time, minus the upperclassmen of course. One clear detail of this watercolor painting is the temperature, they are cold. They look pale, freezing, and truly miserable. They are all bundled up but it seems as if even "layers" of clothing isn't helping them. The faces of these human beings depict fear, fear for France as a whole, fear for society, and fear for their own lives. 

       To conclude, both pieces are masterpieces. But, their subject matter is what Daumier wanted a viewer to see. In my opinion, he wanted to emphasize that even though the wealthy seem totally unaffected, the underclass men are very much affected by the unfair ways of France at this time. And he truly captures the unfairness by creating these two pieces.