Biography

French painter/print artist/sculptor. Born in Marseille. After studying the basics of painting and lithography in his mid-teens, he worked as an apprentice at a printing studio. In 1829, he began to contribute caricatures to the satirical weekly periodical “La Silhouette,” and then to “La Caricature,” both founded by Charles Philipon. In 1931, Daumier was charged with contempt for publishing “Gargantua,” which was highly critical of King Louis Philippe, and then jailed the following year for a different work. In 1833, he began to successively contribute a series on daily Parisian life to the daily paper “Le Charivari.” There exist 4,000 lithographs and 1,000 woodblock prints that he created in his lifetime.