Umbrella Carré Delos Aurillac "Affiches" by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

                                                                             The artist's biography

"Clinique Chéron" by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

After completing a variety of studies and working as an apprentice for a textile printer in Mulhouse, the artist went to Paris in 1881, where he met Dr Willette, brother of the painter Adolphe Willette, who introduced him into Rodolphe Salis’s Chat Noir art circle. There he rubbed shoulders with Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant, Vallotton and Alphonse Allais.
He contributed to the Le Chat Noir journals and the Mirliton, illustrated songs by Paul Delmet and Jean Richepin, as well as Aristide Bruant’s collection called “Dans la rue d'”.
In 1885 he completed his first poster, “Trouville sur Mer”. With his highly personal style he made a real contribution to the creative development of poster art in France.
The artist, a politically committed sympathizer of the Communists and Anarchists, Zola and the Naturalists, used his art to denounce the unbearable misery suffered by both soldiers and civilians during the First World War.