The Daumier Register

THE CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ / WORK CATALOGUE OF THE ENTIRE WORK BY HONORÉ DAUMIER.

What is a Catalogue Raisonné?

A catalogue raisonné is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known works of an artist either in a particular medium or all media. They may provide some or all of the following:

  • Title and title variations
  • Dimension/Size
  • Date of the work
  • Medium
  • Current location/owner at time of publication
  • Provenance (history of ownership)
  • Exhibition history
  • Condition of the work
  • Bibliography/Literature that discusses the work
  • Essay(s) on the artist
  • Critical assessments and remarks
  • Full description of the work
  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Monograms of the artist
  • Reproduction of each work
  • List of works attributed, lost, destroyed, and fakes
  • Catalog number

(Definition given by the New York Public Library)

The DAUMIER-REGISTER provides all of the above criteria.

In addition to the classic criteria of a catalogue raisonné, we attach particular importance to the second-last item on the above list: “List of works attributed, lost, destroyed, and fakes”.
Daumier was already annoyed during his lifetime that his work was copied by numerous imitators and forgers. It is therefore not surprising that

of the 862 oil paintings listed in the DAUMIER-REGISTER, 578 are unconfirmed or after Daumier and
of the 2823 drawings listed in the DAUMIER-REGISTER, 1463 are unconfirmed or after Daumier.

Furthermore, there are 1181 entries of Daumier works that have disappeared (Present location unknown/lost/stolen). This means that they are either in an unknown location, have been lost, stolen or destroyed.

As was the case with works by other artists, numerous Daumier works were also lost during the Second World War or fall under the term “looted art”.
It is our great concern to “track down” this last category, and we do everything we can to return works believed to be lost to their rightful owners.

Original or not?
As mentioned above, the Daumier-Register lists not only ALL of Daumier’s works but also the works that are “unconfirmed” or “after Daumier”. Each work described in the Daumier-Register answers the important question under “Original or not?” in the detailed description.