The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867

The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The actor: - He was your lover Madame! (bravo! bravo!) and I killed him! (bravo! bravo!). Prepare to die! (bravo! bravo!) and I will kill myself on top of your two corpses! A street urchin: - For heaven's sake, NO, who would be left to come to the funeral?

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867The bearded lady: Imprudent woman! You dare hunt on my territory! Tragedy: What! Don't I have a beard as well?, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, February 16, 1867

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.