Daumier, The Celebrities of the Juste Milieu

Commissioned by Charles Philipon, the founder of the satirical newspapers La Caricature and the Charivari, Daumier modelled some forty caricature busts in oil-painted unbaked clay, of which only thirty-six, the Celebrities of the Juste Milieu, housed in the Musée d'Orsay, remain. The artist used the busts as models for his lithographs published in La Caricature and the Charivari.

Daumier's gallery of sometimes cruel but invariably amusing portraits exceeds mere caricature and brings together MPs, peers, as well as relatives and close friends of the artist. Following the in depth study and restoration of the unbaked clay figures, made possible by the generosity of the Fondation BNP Paribas, this exhibition provides a unique opportunity to see Duamier's busts and lithographs juxtaposed with realistic portraits of the featured personalities.