AIC's 47th Annual Meeting

Exit from the Theater in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was acquired in 1932 as a work by the French artist Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). By 1958, however, questions arose regarding the authenticity of the painting, an oil on reused panel. In anticipation of a scholarly catalogue of the museum’s French painting collection, a technical study was launched to understand the painting’s palette and overall construction. Over the course of the examination, important observations of technique were uncovered. Replication experiments showed that a lead-based ground, whose stippled texture dominated all radiographic images, could be reproduced by application with a printmaker’s brayer. Earlier research by Aviva Burnstock and William Bradford documented Daumier’s tendency to incorporate tools and materials from drawing and printmaking into his painting process. Similar textured grounds have now been identified on two unquestioned works on panel, revealing another use of a printmaking tool by this artist. Scanning electron microscopy with elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, FTIR, and polarized light microscopy of dispersed pigment particles enabled identification of the Nelson-Atkins painting’s limited palette and confirmed that the pigment mixtures are consistent with those published in other Daumier studies. Pigments from an earlier composition, accessible at the outer edges, are also compatible with the dates in which Daumier was painting. In an effort to better visualize the underlying landscape, XRF elemental mapping was conducted at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) under conditions optimized to overcome the interference of the intervening lead ground. The resulting image of the earlier landscape, based upon elemental maps and including trace species not previously known to be part of the palette, connects the landscape to British expedition sketches subsequently engraved for publication. It is unlikely that Daumier painted this underlying landscape, but he is known to have repurposed the discarded canvas of another artist. The engravers involved with the expedition publication in Paris were among Daumier’s professional circle, offering plausible avenues by which Daumier, who was struggling financially, may have acquired the wooden panel. Although authenticity questions remain unresolved for many painted works attributed to Honoré Daumier, this study has revealed important new findings that link Exit from the Theater to securely accepted works by Daumier.