They Refused This...the Ignoramuses!! (Ils m'ont refusé ça...les ignares!!), published in Le Charivari, April 6, 1859. From the series: L'Exposition de 1859.
Honoré Daumier French
Printer Destouches French
Publisher Maison Martinet-Hautecoeur, Frères French
Not on view
Daumier created numerous satires on the subject of the Salons, the large exhibitions of contemporary paintings that took place each year in Paris. He caricatured the visitors, the portrayed, and the artists, both those happy to be accepted and those disappointed to be refused. Acceptance of a painting by the Salon jury could establish a reputation, while refusal could ruin hopes of future commissions. The artist shown here is outraged that his spare still life, consisting of a candle and a pipe, was not accepted by the jury which routinely preferred elaborate history paintings and elegant portraits. With his angular bearded face, he loosely resembles the painter François Bonvin, who was known for his realistic still lifes. In 1859, Bonvin had six works accepted at the Salon (two portraits, a still life, and three genre scenes), but he also held in his studio an exhibition of work by artists who had been rejected that year, including Whistler and Henri Fantin-Latour. Daumier, a painter as well as a caricaturist, had exhibited his own canvases at several of the Salons.
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