"It's so nice like that, Dodore...with a bit of primping, it's no longer the same child!" 1847

Curator: This is a lithograph by Honoré Daumier, titled "It's so nice like that, Dodore...with a bit of primping, it's no longer the same child!" currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s a stark domestic scene—almost claustrophobic with its tight rendering of figures around a washstand. The grimy hatching of the lithograph emphasizes the family’s…ordinariness. Curator: Indeed, Daumier frequently used lithography to comment on the values and rituals of the French bourgeoisie. The inscription at the bottom seems to mock the parents' obsession with appearances. Editor: Absolutely. Look at the way the man is washing, the mother tending to her hair, while the child is adorned in an elaborate outfit. The labor of cleanliness and primping is front and center here. Curator: It also points to how the bourgeoisie are preoccupied with projecting a cultivated image to society, even if it is just for show. A clear commentary on class pretension, wouldn't you say? Editor: Yes, there's a tension between the mundane materials of their grooming and the performative aspect of bourgeois life, which Daumier shrewdly captures. Curator: It’s fascinating how Daumier uses a readily available medium like lithography to dissect the social fabric of his time. Editor: It is. The artwork's focus on process and materials makes you wonder about the labor involved, revealing the social and material conditions of 19th-century France.