DaumierVideos

Today we would like to engage those collectors who owneither sculptures "attributed to Daumier" or lithographs based on theunbaked clay models. Some of those are now part of the Musée d’Orsay collectionin Paris.

This January (2012) a Spanish auction house offered asculpture originating from a private collection in Perpignan, France. The workdid not have a title and from the theme and expression we would suggest namingit "L'Ivrogne" or "The Drunkard". The sculpture, whichcarries some old auction stamps on its base, is made of plaster (!). Itundoubtedly shows similarities to some of Daumier’s lithographs, woodengravings and drawings. The height of 285 mm ranges somewhere between theknown figurines and the "Ratapoil" sculpture.

A number of questions arise to which we invite your commentsand answers:

- Can it be considered an original?

- Might it be one of the many fakes found on the market?

- Could it be that a lost figurine has finally surfaced?

- If so, why is it made of plaster, not of clay, like allthe others?

- And why of this unusual size?

- Why are there no known bronze copies?

We invite you to participate in the description of thissculpture in the Daumier Register. Since we will shortly be adding all ofDaumier’s sculptures to the digital work catalogue, we will include the mostrealistic and justifiable answers from collectors like you to the descriptionof this sculpture in our work catalogue.

We are looking forward to receiving your comments.

------------