L' ACTEUR DES FUNAMBULES. - En v'là un temps qui vous rend passionné! et tout à l'heure va falloir être brûlant d'amour en turc... et dire "ô Zuléma partage mes trésors et mon trône.... viens, viens t'enivrer dans les plaisirs et l'abondance!" avec un sou de pommes de terre frites dans le ventre!
L' ACTEUR DES FUNAMBULES. - En v'là un temps qui vous rend passionné! et tout à l'heure va falloir être brûlant d'amour en turc... et dire "ô Zuléma partage mes trésors et mon trône.... viens, viens t'enivrer dans les plaisirs et l'abondance!" avec un sou de pommes de terre frites dans le ventre!
Title (alt.):
THE ACTOR OF TIGHTROPE WALKING. This surely is the kind of weather that makes you burn passion! and in a few minutes I will have to be a Turk burning with love... and say "oh, Zuléma sharing my treasures and my throne.... come, come get drunk in the pleasures and abundance!" with a penny 's worth of potato chips in my belly!
Description:
The “Théâtre des Funambules” was established in 1816 at the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. Up to 1830, the performing actors also had to be acrobats. The theatre became famous with the figure of PIERROT, introduced by the actor Baptiste-Gaspar DEBUREAU. Daumier painted a portrait of Debureau’s son (KEM I 144). The lithograph seen here shows a crowd lining up for tickets, looking forward to an entertaining evening at the theatre. At the same time the miserable figure of an actor enters the stage door, discretely nibbling at his frugal evening meal. Only moments later he will appear as the passionate lover declaring his eternal love to beautiful ravishing Zulema in the royal palace.This series shows the readiness to engage in risky enterprises, the dream of easy money, and the greedy hope for immediate fulfilment of all wishes without responsible involvement. Daumier denudes the ruthless materialistic attitude of his time. At the same time the series shows the bizarre of these outcasts of civilization, expertly drawn and described by Daumier. We follow the debris of all classes and ranks: the man of letters to the clipper of dogs, the old business man and the political refugee, the Chief Administrator of the Empire and the used clothes merchant. It is this mixture of diversity, hope, despair and chance which makes this series so real and meaningful even by today's standards. While shocking and sometimes even repulsive these prints leave the attentive spectator with a feeling of sorrow and sadness but at the same time with awe about the ingenuity of fellowmen in distress, hoping to pull themselves out of their misery - sometimes the Munchhausian way.
Copyright restrictions may apply. For permission to copy or use this image, contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Libraries. The following credit line must be included with each item used: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman Collection of Honoré Daumier Lithographs, Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.
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Place of origin:
Paris
Notes:
4th state.
Published in: Le Charivari, February 19, 1842.
Notes (acquisition):
Donated by: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman, 1959.
