Que diable peut-il bien y avoir dans ce fourré-la? ... c. 19th century

Editor: This is "Que diable peut-il bien y avoir dans ce fourré-là?..." a lithograph by Honoré Daumier, from around the 19th century. It's got these two guys in the woods, looking startled. What do you see in this piece beyond the humor? Curator: Daumier's satire isn't just poking fun; it's a commentary on bourgeois anxieties and societal pretensions. Consider the title: “What the devil could there be in that thicket?” coupled with the line "maybe a tiger?" Think about the historical context—France undergoing industrialization, class tensions rising. What anxieties might the tiger represent metaphorically? Editor: Fear of the unknown? Of losing their place in society? The cartoon suggests these men don't really belong in nature anyway. Curator: Precisely! They're interlopers, perhaps even symbols of an outdated aristocratic hunting culture that was clashing with modernity. It also makes you think about humans’ fraught relationship to the natural world. How does their costuming further reinforce the image? Editor: Their attire marks them as not particularly wealthy or stylish; it is like a costume for hunting rather than something they normally wear. I guess that shows they don't fit in. Curator: Exactly, it's all intertwined – class, fear, societal change, and the artificial separation between humanity and nature. Their anxieties are heightened by a fear of an unacknowledged natural order of existence. Editor: I never thought about caricature having so much depth! Now I'm thinking about contemporary anxieties represented in art, too. Curator: It is a potent vehicle to explore, to analyze the complex web of power, fear, and social structures.