Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

Pierre Kjellberg, Bronzes of the 19th Century: Dictionary of Sculptors, London, 1994, p. 620

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859, Lausanne, Switzerland – 1923, Montmartre, Paris) was one of the most important avant-garde artists in fin-de-siécle Paris. While Steinlen portrayed many animals throughout his career, the cat—in particular the black cat--received special attention, for it constituted the chosen symbol of the spirit of anti-establishment intellectuals.

 After his move to Montmartre in 1881, the young Steinlen quickly immersed himself in the circle of artists, poets, and musicians at Swiss expatriate Rodolphe Salis’s new cabaret in Montmartre, the Chat Noir (“Black Cat”). There he could mix with poet and singer Aristide Bruant, artist Henry Toulouse-Lautrec, authors Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Edgar Degas, Emile Zola, J. K. Huysmans, Edmond de Goncourt, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas, François Coppées, and Anatole France, scientist Louis Pasteur, photographer Félix Nadar, art critic and collector Philippe Burty, and journalist Henri Rochefort.

 A proliferate artist, who produced paintings, sculpture, prints, book and journal illustrations, and numerous poster designs, Steinlen soon received more public recognition than such peers as Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, or Edouard Vuilllard, not least probably, because his œuvre was infiltrated with political and social messages.