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  • Essay / Honoré Daumier, Satire and exaggeration - 574

    The United States was a country founded on freedom. Imagine living in a nation in which the First Amendment did not exist. Where there was no freedom of speech or press where censorship reigned with a king. This picture is that of France for the entire 19th century. At that time, Honoré Daumier was a renowned political and social cartoonist. The king and his police persecuted the lithographer Daumier, among many other French artists, for his political activism, earning him prison sentences and heavy fines. Honoré Daumier was a master of political and social criticism. A glimpse of his comments reveals strong parallels that can be drawn with current American politics. Daumier uses a range of stylistic choices to promote multidimensional critiques that contain various overt and more subtle satires, meanings, and messages. Taking inspiration from and referencing Daumier, I created a political caricature that imitates his style. Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) was an artist of the people for the people. Daumier grew up in a lower-middle-class family...