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A graphite caricature of writer Melanie Waldor. Melanie is shown in a side profile with exaggerated buck teeth messy upswept hair and eyes rolled into the back of her head.
  • A graphite caricature of writer Melanie Waldor. Melanie is shown in a side profile with exaggerated buck teeth messy upswept hair and eyes rolled into the back of her head.

Tony Johannot

Caricature of Mélanie Waldor

Maker

Tony Johannot (French, 1803-1852)

Title

Caricature of Mélanie Waldor

Year

ca. 1830-1840

Medium

  • graphite on wove paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • graphite on wove paper

Materials

pencil

Supports

  • Heavy buff paper

Dimensions

20 x 13.2 cm (7 7/8 x 5 3/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed on the window mount: "Quand mamame Valdor a Paul Foucher s'accroche montrant la tartre de ses dents / Alf. Musset"

Erased graphite inscription: "Daumier"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

69.113

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

A woman is depicted in profile with an elaborate coiffure, a sloping forehead, and large irregular teeth. The artist and illustrator Tony Johannot deployed the harsh strategies of caricature to make this cruel joke at the expense of Mélanie Waldor, a woman of letters and a member of the artist’s social circle. The verses added below the image are from a poem that also ridiculed Waldor. While privately circulated, this caricature may be evidence of a broader backlash against women writers in France in the 1830s.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Tony Johannot (French, 1803-1852)
Caricature of Mélanie Waldor, ca. 1830-1840
Graphite on wove paper
20 x 13.2 cm (7 7/8 x 5 3/16 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 69.113

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