Honoré Daumier

Honoré Daunier was born in Marseille, France in 1808 as the son of a glazier. He moved to Paris at the age of eight and got an education in the new medium of lithography. He became a skilful but sarcastic caricaturist, and even spent time in jail after his depictions of emperor Louis-Philippe in the weekly La Caricature in 1832. He also drew for magazine Le Charivari from 1835, ridiculing the bourgeoisie and the legal system. Between 1855 and 1870, Daumier created numerous paintings. At the end of his life, he lost his sight, and he died a poor and blind man, leaving the world an enormous visual legacy of over 4000 lithographs which have influenced generations of graphic artists.