In the late nineteenth century, 'Le Chat Noir' was a Parisian cabaret located in the risqué arrondissement of Montmartre. 'The Black Cat' was a fitting name for such a locale, conjuring up as it does images of black magic and witches, and was probably influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, published in 1847.

The artist, Steinlen, was born in Lausanne in 1859 and, after arriving in Paris in 1881, soon became a member of the artistic community in Montmartre of which Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Adolphe Willette were also members. Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec depicted several of the same subjects in their work, but it was the Swiss artist who enjoyed greater fame during the artists' lifetimes no doubt due to his ability to undertake more commercial work, which reached a greater audience than Toulouse-Lautrec's controversial graphic work.