Ne tirez pas!!! 1865

Curator: Well, that's…intense. The stark contrast and the frantic energy hit you right away, don’t they? Like a scene ripped from a slightly deranged opera. Editor: Daumier, through this lithograph from 1865 entitled *Ne tirez pas!!!* meaning “Don’t shoot!!!”, stages a farcical scene ripe with commentary about class and leisure, especially the upper classes' penchant for hunting. You see that, too, right? Curator: Absolutely. It's Romantic, but with Daumier’s signature satirical twist. You’ve got the hunter, looking a bit like a clueless scarecrow, his gun pointed… somewhere. And that frantic figure emerging from the woods – the “Don't Shoot!” guy? Is he about to become unintentional target practice? He's so overgrown with the thicket! The dog knows what's up though, a wonderfully taut, nervous figure in the middle. Editor: Yes, the man emerging from the bushes clearly doesn’t belong to the hunting party, signified in his choice of dress, almost like a robe. One interpretation could read the lithograph as highlighting tensions between rural inhabitants or peasants, and affluent sportsmen. What does "sport" mean when class structures dictate who has access to certain landscapes, or perhaps even guns? Curator: And doesn't it also bring up this fascinating question of human impact on the natural world? Is this plea, "Don’t shoot," also directed towards a larger, reckless disregard? Daumier isn’t always subtle, but here the humor feels like a smokescreen for deeper unease. Editor: Agreed. The composition pushes our gaze to the margins—those frenzied details embedded in the trees where power, property, and privilege blur together. The rough lines, that feeling of constant motion, remind us how societal forces constantly endanger those outside the accepted circle. Curator: I love the messiness of it all. Life’s a tangle. And sometimes, survival is just a matter of shouting loud enough to be heard. It leaves you with this feeling, this tension... it's potent. Editor: Definitely. And Daumier, with his keen eye, manages to encapsulate all of that socio-political friction within a deceptively simple hunting scene. Powerful work.