Word: daumiers
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...QUESTIONS concerning the ambiguous world of Daumier sculpture have been snatched away from a dusty drawer of art history and neatly placed in a revolutionary exhibition at the Fogg Museum. Rather than presenting only assuredly authentic pieces, the curators have invited viewers to join in their game of evaluation by including in the show works of dubious origin. You judge the merit of a cast; you detect a forgery...
What sculpture did Daumier really model? How does bronze cast differ from the original clay? Scarcity of documents about Daumier sculpture create problems for the historian. None of the sculptures were cast in bronze during Daumier's life; since then many casts have been made from the clay originals and works of unknown origin have appeared...
...viewers on their search. Different editions of the same bust, side by side, tantalize the eye with slight variations in a textured surface or a twisted bowtie. The show makes you look at sculpture in a new way. Among the crowd of gesticulating roguish faces, you try to distinguish Daumier's style and conception...
Nobby foreheads and fishlike smiles of a large group of busts portraying the politicians of the Louis Philippe government dominate the exhibit. Here Daumier's style stands out. Pinching the features into blobs and twists, he skillfully expresses a particular miser or nearsighted fool. Originally molded in unbaked clay and painted as studies for satirical lithographic portraits, these small caricatures look like papier mache puppet heads. Four of the 36 original brown heads are exhibited here for the first time in the United States. The other 32 politicians appear at the Fogg in bronze or terra cotta casts...
...Daumier cartoons have a lighter touch: a skinny, knobby-nosed "Narcissus" stares at a fat face in the water; but they also are slightly too perverse to seem funny. Delacroix, standing at the other end of the title of the exhibition, asserts a more serious tone and representational image. His etching of a lion devouring a horse is memorable for the energy of the lines and the laser stare of the lion...