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Inspiration from Artists Wk 127 Featuring Artists : Ronald Lampitt and Daumier

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Waddesdon Grotesque

Andrew Roles

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I love these paintings and the stories they tell. I’m sure he must have must have influenced me as a child . I do remember Look and Learn magazine, I didn’t subscribe but my friends had it . I’m intrigued by the view of the gardens and allotments, so much going on. Fabulous artist. 

Jenny Harris

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I love his depiction of the gardens and allotments - I do remember gardens like that when I was very small - neat and tidy, usually with a small area of bordered lawn and a large very well tended vegetable plot, often the most important part of the garden.  No trips to a supermarket then for our fruit and vegetables!  Like Andrew, I also remember the Look and Learn magazine and had a lot of the Ladybird books. All very nostalgic, and a world away from how things are today.

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Lewis Cooper

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A few more I like.  These old posters are a reminder of how things were, or maybe how we wanted them to be.  As a nipper, already interested in art, I lived near a railway station, and drooled over some of these posters.  Sometimes dear old dad would take us off on excursions to these wonderful places...and they were wonderful.  We never managed Tenby...it looks idyllic... I recently visited my brother, who lives in the 'last of the summer wine' country in Yorkshire.  As we strolled back from Sunday lunch at the local pub, across the way we saw a village cricket match in progress.  A visual delight.  Here's this artist's take on this...(not Yorkshire)... That's about as English as you get. He's done so many pictures than team with life, here's another...I've been unable to find a better image...but you'll get the idea. Thank you Robert for your very generous comments.  You need two things to be an artist.  The ability to shove various media around on paper or canvass, and an artist's mindset.  I don't have the latter.  I'm never satisfied with what I do, a trait many on his site seem to share, but it's fun having a go. I think the lyrics of songs hold many truths, and perhaps one of the truest is 'the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is to love and be loved in return.'  I had that in my sixty years with my sweet Jean.  So....no regrets, not a single one. Sorry...feeling a bit wistful.
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Russell Edwards

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Nostalgia by the bucket load and I love all of them, a wonderful artist as is Lewis of course!
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Honoré Daumier, 1808 - 1879 was a French satirist, artist, and sculptor - from a poor background, and struggled with and for money all his life  (a very familiar tune...), imprisoned on several occasions for his attacks on King Louis Philipe; his approach was ameliorated later in life, to the extent that the state granted him a pension.  There's an extensive Wikipedia biography, no real need to regurgitate chunks of it here (besides: that would mean work). Some self-pitying comedians these days are inclined to suggest "you can't say anything any more!", then rather undermine their point by saying it.  Well, in Daumier's day you really couldn't say things, without ending up in jug - though even today's most "outrageous" cartoonists and satirists aren't as scathing as Daumier; not to say not as good.  The one thing he seems to have respected, or at least felt some familiarity with, was law - his cartoons of lawyers in full flow date back to the time he spent in the French version of Chambers, or solicitors' offices: he had a wonderful line, exhibited well in his depiction of lawyers' and judges' flowing robes.  Have a look, and see if you think the satire of yesterday wasn't as biting as that of today. I discovered while writing this that my favourite artist, J B C Corot, came to Daumier's aid when he was struggling with poverty, by buying the house he was renting, and giving it to him - not just a great painter, but a great man.
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Tony Auffret

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At first I was a little surprised that Robert chose cartoons, and then I looked up Daumier's work.  Even his two most famous paintings 'La République" and 'La Blancheuse' are markedly dull and drab in retrospect  I am sure if it was dirt the Musée D'Orsay would have cleaned them up by now.  Robert, I think, is spot on, Daumier's legacy is his cartoons and caricatures.  This is a rare, and currently unique example where, having been featured in this series, the artist has gone down in my estimation.  I have chosen one example of his work, not because it appeals to me particularly, but at least it shows Daumier did have some colours on his palette, suggesting the dull drabness elsewhere may not be due to fading of poor quality paint.
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Lewis Cooper

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I have mixed feelings about Daumier's work, for me it doesn't have the impact of Gilray and Rowlandson's work, both of whom were earlier than Daumier.  But he's of interest to anyone who likes cartoonists. The word 'cartoonist', as we now understand it, wasn't in usage until the end of Daumier's time.  I like cartoons because they often depict real life better than paintings of the time.  Just an opinion. Here's his 'third class railway carriage.'.... Here's the 'side-show', which probably had some meaning in his time.... Here's GARGANTUA, a caricature of the King, that no doubt got him in trouble.... Some everyday life...butcher in Montmartre... ...the Parisians... His caricature sculptures appeal to me more...

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With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Yes, the Gargantua cartoon got him into prison... the King was distinctly unamused.   His paintings don't appeal to me, which is why I didn't choose any - his palette was drab, in the same way that early Van Gogh's palette was drab, and probably for the same reason: the earth colours are and were a lot cheaper than the bright primaries and secondaries (in passing, I was looking for Genuine Naples Yellow oil paint earlier today - £50 for 40ml!  Eek - but it's on a 10% discount at the Supreme Paint Company, so I may  take the plunge - I know there are much cheaper colours called Naples Yellow Hue, the snag with them being they nearly all contain Zinc Oxide.  But I digress.) How well he compares with Gilray, Rowlandson, and Hogarth is a matter of opinion, but all three of those used a much brighter palette (and were set in very different circumstances) - I agree with Lew, on the whole, but prefer his draughtsmanship to Gilray's amd Rowlandson's - he also lived rather more dangerously.  Yes, I like the sculptures too.   The painting of his that I really like is the very one I couldn't find - I'm wondering if I've mistakenly attributed it to him!
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Incidentally, the penultimate sculpture - I had a solicitor who was its spitting image years ago: sorry Percy, but it's you... just as well he's passed on and now sings in the Choir Eternal... he was not one to forgive a slight, or even accept the possibility of humour; some lawyers are like that, or were.  
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Lewis Cooper

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This post has prompted me to have another look at Rowlandson and Gilray again, and I must agree that Daumier's draughtsmanship is as good, maybe better.  I must have been wearing my rose-tinted head at the time I wrote that.  I'm interested in all cartooning.  Political cartooning in particular, which is often painfully true rather than funny.  There's a wealth of brilliant cartoonery out there, I tend to prefer those who were around during my formative years, like Ronald Searle, Raymond Briggs, Thelwell, David Low etc, etc.. 

Alan Bickley

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And my favourite political cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe… ink blots and scratchy pen all par for the course! His scathing caricature’s of Margaret Thatcher were so memorable!
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Lewis Cooper

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Yes, of course, the great Gerald Scarfe.  There have been many brilliant cartoons about Donald Trump.  One by Scarfe being the best of all in my opinion...can't show it here, his entirely justified use of bad language seems inappropriate here.  His animated designs for the film 'The Wall' were utterly brilliant.  I'd thought of doing a piece on him for this thread, but maybe he's  too controversial for POL. 
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