Quand sonnent quatre heures c. 19th century

Curator: Editor: Here we have Honoré Daumier's "Quand sonnent quatre heures," a lithograph print from the 19th century. It seems to depict a rather chaotic scene, almost like a scrum, with people and their belongings entangled. What's your take on it? Curator: What strikes me immediately is the explicit connection between this artistic output, the lithograph, and the rapidly changing social landscape of 19th century Paris. The mass production of prints was transforming how people engaged with art and information. But what labour, tools, and material production are embedded in this specific work? Editor: Well, I see it was mass-produced using lithography. But looking closer at the subject matter, it seems to mock the bourgeoisie? Is it making fun of their behaviour or their possessions, like the canes and umbrellas? Curator: Precisely. Daumier, through this medium accessible to a wider public, uses caricature to critique social behaviours, perhaps satirizing the materialism and even the inherent class conflict bubbling beneath the surface. Think about it: what commentary is Daumier making about the nature of crowds, consumerism, and perhaps, even the absurdity of artistic consumption itself, when artwork appreciation is more like a 'struggle' of elites to mark territories by cane? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. So it's not just about *what* is depicted, but *how* it's depicted and distributed that gives it its power. A painting on display would have never made such an immediate and poignant effect on a large social spectrum. Curator: Absolutely. The print’s existence as a commodity, made via industrial means to capture a bourgeois audience *en masse,* ironically reflects and critiques the very system it’s part of, the print is an argument embedded in itself. Where is beauty when all are struggling to retrieve their umbrellas at 4pm? Editor: I never considered the tension between the medium and the message. This has really opened my eyes to a new way of seeing art!