Marthe-Camille Bachasson, Comte de Montalivet c. 1832 - 1950

Curator: Ugh, heavy. That's my first impression. It looks like you could use this bronze bust as a paperweight for the collected works of Balzac. Editor: And heavy is, in a way, accurate! This is Honore Daumier’s sculpture, Marthe-Camille Bachasson, Comte de Montalivet, likely sculpted sometime between 1832 and 1850. What you’re reacting to is Daumier’s talent for turning the socio-political tide into a kind of… molten metal. Curator: Exactly! There’s such intense character. He looks…constipated with power. You know? Like he's eternally forcing something out. Or holding it in, perhaps even worse! Editor: It’s all in the compression of the features, isn’t it? Montalivet held various high positions under Louis-Philippe, and Daumier originally created this bust—along with others—as part of a satirical project, a series of portrait-charges of prominent parliamentarians. He used sculpture, that traditionally revered medium, for pointed social critique. Curator: Portrait-charges. I love that! He's captured something essential, some inner tension. Even his cravat looks aggressively knotted! Do you think Montalivet ever saw it? What would he have thought? Editor: It’s unlikely. The series was never formally exhibited in Daumier's lifetime. These busts, because they were made from clay, existed precariously for a time, more like ephemeral documents. They gained a second life only after being cast in bronze, securing their place in history. And ironically, I’m sure Montalivet wouldn't have liked Daumier's brutal honesty. He probably wanted to be seen like some marble god. Curator: Gods didn't have jowls like that! It's so real, you know? Stripped bare, metaphorically speaking. He seems weighed down, not just by bronze, but by the sheer burden of being Montalivet. Editor: Daumier had this incredible capacity to find the political within the personal, the universal within the specific. Curator: You’ve given me a lot to ponder here. Perhaps it’s time for both of us to lighten up over an espresso! Editor: I can agree with that. Let's go grab that espresso. I’ve become increasingly thirsty from simply contemplating.