Two Sculptors

Two Sculptors, dated around 1870 and held at The Phillips Collection in Washington, belongs to Daumier's cluster of paintings about artistic work and identity. Daumier was himself a sculptor of significance — his bronze caricature busts of lawyers and politicians were important works in their own right — and his paintings of sculptors working carry an insider's understanding of the creative process. The sculpting studio, with its plaster dust, armatures, and works in various stages of completion, provides a specific professional environment that Daumier renders with the same direct observation he brings to law courts and laundries. Two sculptors engaged with their work positions artistic labor as a form of physical and intellectual engagement comparable to any other skilled trade — consistent with the Realist insistence that work, whoever performs it, is an intrinsically worthy subject. The Phillips Collection has a strong group of Daumier paintings, making it one of the most important American repositories of his work.

The studio interior gives Daumier a specific light environment — typically strong, directional skylight from north-facing windows. He builds the two figures through broad tonal masses, differentiating their engagement with the work through posture and gesture rather than facial detail.