Le Format de plus en plus monstre 1845

Honoré Daumier created "Le Format de plus en plus monstre" as a lithograph, a medium that allowed for mass distribution through print media. In 19th-century France, the rise of newspapers was transforming public life. Daumier, a keen observer of social dynamics, captures this moment of media expansion through the shocked expressions of his figures as they read a newspaper that is too big to handle. The institutional history of the press is crucial here. Newspapers, once confined to elite circles, were becoming accessible to a wider audience. Daumier’s image speaks to the changing relationship between information, power, and the public. Was the press providing greater public knowledge, or was it becoming something monstrous? To understand Daumier fully, we can look to the archives of French periodicals and political debates from this era, to see how the anxieties around the media have always existed. Art becomes meaningful as we restore its place in time.