Household Argument
Honore Daumier 1808-1879), Ah Tu Trouves…, lithograph, 1841 [with initials in the plate, other annotation: Chez Aubert, gal. Véro-Dodat lower center Se vend chez Bauger & Cie Editeurs… lower right Imp. d’Aubert & Cie]. Reference: Daumier Register 661, second state (of 3), before the erasure of the address. Published in Le Charivari. Plate 38 from Moeurs Conjugales. In good condition, with margins (spotting in margins) 9 x 12, the sheet 13 1/2 x 10 1/8 inches, archival matting.
A very good black sur blanc impression. The sur blanc impressions were printed in a limited edition apart from the large newsprint edition, for collectors, on a white wove paper. This paper is stronger than the newprint, and is superior insofar as the newsprint does not show through the image. For more background on the print, including the position of women v. men in French households in the mid-19th Century, please see the discussion of the topic in the Daumier Register, a free on-line catalogue raisonne.
Here is the translation of the text from the Daumier Register:
. Original Text: – Ah! tu trouves que ta femme ne te soigne pas assez, brigand; quand tu dépenses tout, canaille!… Eh bien je m’en ferai des accroche-cœur, polisson!…. et je m’achèterai des bonnets…. et je te ferai manger des bouchons de liège, gredin…….. – Mon ange j’ai tort, tu es une bonne femme de ménage….. mais tu casses tout.
Translation: – Ah! So you think your wife does not care enough about you, you rascal, when you spend everything you good-for-nothing! Well, I am going to arrange my hair in lovelocks, you scoundrel! And I am going to buy fancy hats and I will give you corks to eat, you villain! – My angel, I am wrong, you are a good housewife …. but you’re breaking everything!
$250