Singing Guitarist (recto) (1855–60): Art, History and Details

Singing Guitarist (recto) (1855–60) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The first six-string guitars appeared simultaneously in Naples and Paris in the 1770s, and by the end of the 19th century the so-called Romantic guitar played a central role in the popular music of the French capital. Daumier’s drawing reflects this interest in street singers and carnival performers. The agitated, almost frenetic tangle of fine lines drawn in pen and ink imbues the figure with life, so that his voice and instrument seem to vibrate with emotion.

Object facts

• Title: Singing Guitarist (recto)
• Date: 1855–60
• Creator attribution: Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and black ink over charcoal
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33.9 x 21.5 cm (13 3/8 x 8 7/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1991.59.a

Collection credit

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992): 63-83.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.