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Poster

1893 (produced)
Artist/Maker
Impressions Artistiques (printers)
Steinlen, Théophile Alexandre (designer)
Place of origin
Paris (produced)

Théophile-Alexandre 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.

Object details

Categories
Prints
Posters
Object type
Poster
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph on paper
Lithographic Ink
Paper
Colour Lithography
Planographic Printing
Brief description
Colour lithograph of 'Mothu et Doria: scènes impressionistes' by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, France, 1893.
Physical description
A tall, moustached man in full evening dress, tophat, houndstooth coat and cane, lights a second man's cigarette with his cigar. The latter, dressed in a red suit and cap, visibly blanches on seeing the yellow-gloved hand of the man who is assisting him.
Dimensions
  • Height: 137cm
  • Width: 97cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Steinlen (Signed lower left)
  • Mothu et Doria (Text at the top)
  • Scènes Impressionistes (Text at the bottom)
  • Pajol et Cie, Éditeurs, 27, Rue Bergére (Lower right)
  • Impressions artistiques, 8, Rue Milton, Paris (Left-hand side)
Gallery label
(1987-2006)
'American and European Art and Design 1800-1900'

This poster, published by Pajol & Cie, advertises, the singers Mothu et Doria in their humorous act, Scènes Impressionistes. The tall figure in evening dress offering a light from his cigar to the cigarette stub of the shorter poorly-dressed figure in cap and scarf, not only represent a scene from the act of Mothu and Doria, but also gives the designer, Steinlen, an opportunity to contrast wealth and poverty, and to point out the social injustices of which he was keenly aware.
Summary
Théophile-Alexandre 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.
Bibliographic reference
Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1962
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
CIRC.573-1962

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Record createdApril 12, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O35215/poster-steinlen-théophile-alexandre/
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