Art Museum Lunchtime Talk on Selections from the "With the Line of Daumier" Exhibition

February 6, 2009 — On Feb. 10, at noon, the University of Virginia Art Museum will present a lunchtime gallery talk by K. Katelyn Hobbs on selections from the museum’s exhibition, "With the Line of Daumier." Hobbs is an undergraduate intern with the University of Virginia Art Museum’s Education Department.

"With the Line of Daumier" presents paintings, drawings and lithographs by the French painter and draftsman Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), including key works on loan from The Phillips Collection and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as a selection of images by great British, French and American caricaturists of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Daumier was best known for his prints and caricatures satirizing both the French government and society at large. "With the Line of Daumier" was organized as a companion exhibition to "Leadership: Oliphant Cartoons and Sculpture from the Bush Years," an exhibition of cartoons, pencil sketches, oversized charcoal caricatures and sculpture in bronze and wax by contemporary political cartoonist Patrick Oliphant.

Daumier was a major influence in the development of Oliphant's work. Together, the two exhibitions clarify the continuing importance of Daumier, the tradition of caricature and social satire for the art and culture of the present.

In her lunchtime talk, Hobbs will focus on two particular Daumier works, "La Cour du Roi Pétaud," a hand-colored lithograph, and "Plea for the Defense," a pen-and-ink drawing. Using these works, she will give her audience a sense of the political and social atmosphere that sparked their creation. She will also discuss Daumier’s artistic technique, including his famous clay models of political figures, to address how the artist captured the essence of his subjects.

Hobbs is completing her B.A. in the History of Art at U.Va. She is working on her Distinguished Majors thesis under the guidance of Larry Goedde, McIntire Department of Art Department chairman. Her thesis focuses on German artist Hans Baldung Grien and his images of the Fall.

The U.Va. Art Museum is open to the public, free of charge, Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Parking is available on Bayly Drive off Rugby Road or in the Culbreth Road Parking Garage. For information, call 434-924-3592 or visit the museum Web site.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact