Man met spiegel constateert zijn kaalheid 1837

This lithograph was made by Honoré Daumier, a French printmaker, using a greasy crayon on a slab of limestone. Daumier’s genius was to take this relatively new industrial process and imbue it with the qualities of fine art. Lithography allowed for the relatively quick production of images, which accounts for the fact that Daumier made thousands of them. The inherent qualities of the medium, a soft, velvety texture, perfectly suit Daumier's subject matter: the lives of ordinary Parisians. In this case, a man gazing at his bald spot. The way the print is made is crucial to its meaning. Unlike etching or engraving, which require laborious cutting into a metal plate, lithography allowed Daumier to draw directly onto the stone. This directness translates into the immediacy of the image. Daumier's focus on the lives of everyday people, combined with the accessibility of printmaking, democratized art in a way that challenged traditional hierarchies. This print is not just an image; it's a testament to the power of art to connect with the lived experiences of the masses.