The London Omnibus

ca. 1852–63

Not on view

Best known today as a pioneering photographer, Nadar worked as a caricaturist for almost twenty years, contributing to many of the major satirical magazines of his day. These two pairs of drawings, likely intended to be reproduced as wood engravings, contrast the harried experience of riding the omnibus "today" with idealized visions for what it will be like "tomorrow." Their humor is both specific to the nineteenth-century fascination with omnibus travel as an experience of urban modernity and universally understood by anyone who experiences the frustrations of a daily commute on mass-transit.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Secondary Titles

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: The London Omnibus
Artist: Nadar (French, Paris 1820–1910 Paris)
Date: ca. 1852–63
Medium: Pen and ink, brush and wash and white gouache over graphite
Dimensions: Sheet (each): 5 5/8 × 8 3/8 in. (14.3 × 21.3 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2022
Object Number: 2022.457.4a–d
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Anonymous, Italian, 18th century
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Pierrot Laughing, Nadar French, Gelatin-coated salted paper print (vernis-cuir) — Pierrot Laughing
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Person in Photograph Jean-Charles Deburau
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Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, Lithograph printed in four colors; three sheets of wove paper — Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Printer Affiches Américaines, Charles Lévy
1891

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