The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834

Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834

1834
(French, 1808–1879)
France, 19th century
lithograph
Sheet: 36.5 x 55 cm (14 3/8 x 21 5/8 in.); Image: 28.6 x 44 cm (11 1/4 x 17 5/16 in.)
Gift of Ralph King 1924.809
Catalogue raisonné: Daumier Register / Delteil 135 ; Hazard-Delteil 310
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Although government censors approved publication of this print, they seized it upon its exhibition in a Parisian print shop.

Description

Although it supported the French middle class, the government of Louis-Philippe (1773–1850) oppressed workers. The rebellion of the silk weavers of Lyon, who toiled 18 hours a day for a pittance, touched off a sympathetic revolt in Paris. During the uprising, sniper fire directed toward government troops emanated from a house on the Rue Transnonain. In retaliation, the soldiers indiscriminately massacred residents, including old men, women, and children. In this haunting image, Daumier focused attention on the human suffering and loss of life, emphasizing the innocence of the victims and the violence of their deaths. Between 1830 and 1835 censorship laws had been suspended, allowing Charles Philipon (1806–1862) to publish a number of periodicals like L'Association Mensuelle, where Rue Transnonain appeared. Daumier, one of the most accomplished and prolific lithographers of the 19th century, often provided caricatures criticizing contemporary political abuses or satirizing French society.
  • ?-1924
    Ralph King [1855-1926], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    1924-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Freedman, Leonard, and Gibson A. Danes. Looking at Modern Painting. New York: Norton, 1961. p. 45
    “Lists of Objects in the Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 9 (1929): 159–75. Mentioned: p. 161 www.jstor.org
    Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949. Published as: Rue Transnonain, Le 15 Avril 1834 Mentioned: p. 27 archive.org
  • Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).
    Urban Vicissitudes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-September 29, 1985).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
    French Art Since Eighteen Hundred. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8-December 8, 1929).
  • {{cite web|title=Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834|url=false|author=Honoré Daumier|year=1834|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.809