DAUMIER, H. - Abus de l'article 214 du code civil. Madame mon épouse... (Plate 50)

Macaire personified the clever business man, who was willing at any time to throw moral and ethical principles overboard for a quick buck. His personality fitted exactly to the period so well described by Alexis de Tocqueville: self-enrichment at all levels and a Government run on shareholders principles. Short-selling, pyramid systems, investments in Californian gold mines and IPOs of non existent companies were the name of the game. Thanks to Macaire and Bertrand, all the little tricks were demonstrated in detail to the public.

Through Daumier’s drawings and Philipon’s texts, the public was made aware of the wrongdoings of Macaire without names ever being mentioned. Caricaturana appeared between August 1836 and November 1838, and various books were published in 1839 by Aubert, using mirror images, reduced and redrawn versions of the originals after Daumier and copied by Menut-Alophe.
After the July-Revolution and the reinstatement of the Freedom of the Press, CHARLES PHILIPON (1800-1862) recognised the growing desire of the public for information. In 1830, he founded the political satirical illustrated paper LA CARICATURE.

PHILIPON’s brother-in-law GABRIEL AUBERT was responsible for the distribution and sale of the publication.
LA CARICATURE can be considered the first political and satirical French newspaper of that period combining politics and contemporary art. In total, there appeared 251 editions of LA CARICATURE from Nov.4, 1830 to Aug.27, 1835 featuring 524 caricatures of various artists, of which 91 by Daumier. Each edition fluctuated between 750 and 2’000 copies.
2008 will mark the 200th anniversary of Honoré Daumier's birth. It will be the DAUMIER YEAR with events and exhibitions all over the world to celebrate this special birthday and to commemorate this outstanding artist.