Van Gogh did it…. Degas did it…. but Eisenstein?

We are all aware that Degas, Cézanne and van Gogh collected Daumier prints. Van Gogh’s enthusiasm even went so far as to copy one of Daumier’s wood engravings, “Les Quatre Ages” (DR6014) as an oil painting.

To our great surprise, the famous film director Sergej Eisenstein, saw his first Daumier lithographs as a ten year old child in his father’s house. This first encounter eventually influenced the future of his entire artistic work. At the age of twenty, he already had a remarkable collection of prints and books on Daumier. For his cinematographic work he used numerous scenes from Daumier’s work and adjusted them for his films such as “Armored Cruiser Potemkin” or “Octobre” from 1927.

The list of new and surprising findings presented by Ms. Ada Ackerman is long and exciting. The book (in French only) has recently been published and is full of new, hitherto unknown information about the artistic connection between Eisenstein and Daumier. It underlines the immense influence Daumier had not only on his fellow painters and draftsmen but also on 20th century film-making.

Eisenstein and Daumier

by Ada Ackerman

Armand Collin Publication, Paris

ISBN 978-2-200-27714-7

We highly recommend this book to all our Daumier Friends.

Ada Ackerman is also a contributing author to the Daumier-Register with articles for the “New Research” section. We greatly appreciate her involvement and we are convinced that her findings will be of great interest to the Daumier community.