Parisian Types
Daumier’s satirical lithograph addresses the intimacy of urban space and how city-dwellers become voyeurs of everyday life. It provides commentary on voyeurism by illustrating two men peering into a woman's window. This was drawn during an age when Paris’s upper classes respected flâneurs, who were wealthy people who spent time aimlessly strolling the city and acting as a voyeur to those around them. During this time, Paris was moving towards modernization, leading to a fast paced and crowded city. Charles Baudelaire, a writer and poet contemporary to Daumier, discussed the shock of the urban crowd experience as Paris became more congested. He spends time discussing the term flâneur and its interaction with the modern city. Daumier’s depiction allows its viewers to become voyeurs of the voyeur culture to better understand its emergence.
