Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection 2019

Honoré Daumier french, 1808–1879 Three Attentive Spectators

Pen and ink with watercolor on paper 4 by 4 ¾ inches ( 10.2 by 12 . 06 cm) provenance

sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, November 18 , 1946 , lot 5 ; sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, March 24 , 1952 , lot 4 ; Private collection, Paris, by 1968 ; William Louis-Dreyfus, 2009 . bibliography 9 K. E. Maison. Daumier Drawings , New York: T. Yoseloff, 1960 . no. 101 , p. 26 ; K. E. Maison, Honoré Daumier: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolours, and Drawings , Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1968 , Vol. 2 , no. 489 , p. 165 , pl. 167 . Daumier’s often satirical depictions of contemporary life reveal an acute perceptiveness and deft artistry. His interest in the drama of the theater and scenes in the courtroom extended beyond the main players and often focused on the particular reactions of the spectators. As in the related work A Theater Audience (Metropolitan Museum of Art, pen and black ink, gouache, and watercolor over black chalk, 1972 . 118 . 203 ) in our drawing, Daumier ignores the drama on the stage altogether, and focuses on the reactions of the crowd.