Artwork
Prenez garde, madame la Majorité!
Prenez garde, madame la Majorité! is a print by the Impressionist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1871 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
The image presents a well‑dressed woman clutching a child while a massive, shaggy creature looms overhead, its clawed hand nearly touching her shoulder.
Created in 1871, this gillotype on newsprint by Honoré Daumier bears the caption Prenez garde, madame la Majorité! The image presents a well‑dressed woman clutching a child while a massive, shaggy creature looms overhead, its clawed hand nearly touching her shoulder. The stark contrast between the fragile figures and the threatening beast generates a palpable sense of alarm, characteristic of Daumier’s politically charged cartoons.
Subject & Meaning
The composition juxtaposes a vulnerable mother‑and‑child duo with a grotesque, anthropomorphic monster, a visual metaphor for the perceived dangers confronting the French populace after the collapse of the Second Empire. Daumier’s caption, warning “madame la Majorité,” alludes to the newly enfranchised majority of voters, suggesting that the masses were under threat from reactionary forces.
Technique & Style
Executed as a gillotype—a lithographic process that reproduces the artist’s drawing with a grainy, newspaper‑like texture—the work retains the immediacy of a sketch while allowing multiple copies. Daumier’s bold line work, exaggerated proportions, and stark chiaroscuro heighten the dramatic tension, aligning the piece with the satirical visual language of mid‑nineteenth‑century French press illustrations.
History & Provenance
The print belongs to Daumier’s later period, produced shortly after the 1870 defeat of the Second French Empire and the establishment of the Third Republic. It was originally circulated in radical newspapers that championed republican ideals. Subsequent collections have acquired the piece through the art market, preserving its role as a document of post‑war political discourse.
Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
