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Theophile Alexandre Steinlen
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Cabby, Rue Caulaincourt." "Rue what?" "Rue Caulaincourt, Montmartre."
"Confoundit! Montmartre at the top of the hill, and all francs ! Well
that for two miserable francs ! Well I never!"
Grumbling all the time, the noble Jehu at length got on to his box, and with his whip slashed his hack who moved painfully on the greasy pavement.
"Cahin-Caha," we drove towards the hill of Montmartre, la butte as it is called, right at the other end of Paris, where, on this grey winter day, the gigantic basilica of the Sacre Coeur stood, muffled up in the morning's mist. Going along, I passed the menu people of Montmartre, hurrying to their work : young milliners gaily carrying their green hat-boxes, clerks making haste to their offices, labourers in their working garb. Of street prowlers I saw some good specimens, and as for cats, I saw scores squatting on the pavement, and I thought to myself : All these are genuine Steinlen ! yes ! all this is the living actual inspiration of Steinlen ; this is the soul of the street which he has succeeded in reproducing with so much truth to nature ; these street scenes are the hunting ground of the affichiste whom I was going to interview on behalf of the poster.
This is the Montmartre our Steinlen loves so much. . Loves it ! indeed one might say adores it, worships it, for Montmartre is all Steinlen, even as Steinlen is all Montmartre. Here for years he has taken up his abode. The surroundings and character of the place have inspired him with his best productions, and no one better than he has been able to give us more graphic impressions of this township in the enormous City of Paris."
It was at Montmartre that Steinlen began his work, when he first arrived in 1882, from Lausanne, in Switzerland, where he was born. At that time the first "Cabarets Artistiques " were in their full splendour: Aristide Bruant had started the " Mirliton," and Rodolphe Salis the " Chat Noir." The geiitilhomme tavern keeper, as Salis was called, had grouped round him all that Montmartre possessed of young and ready-witted talent. Steinlen, side by side with Willette, was one of the first to decorate the walls of the " Chat Noir " with allegorical pictures, and all Paris went to see these magnificent wall decorations. This " Black Cat" Cabaret had also its weekly newspaper, called by the name of the Tavern, which was a most humorous sheet, and was illustrated by Steinlen, Willette, Heidbrinck, Caran cl'Ache, and Does.
Steinlen soon began to be well known, and contributed to the "Courrier Fran9ais," and illustrated Aristide Bruant's two books of songs, " Dans la Rue," where he evealed himself as a keen observer and a most extraordinary draughtsman. The "Gil Bias Illustre" was fortunate enough to secure his services, and this journal still publishes two of his designs, to illustrate short stories and songs, each week. But the picturesque and very often tragic mood of Steinlen's street types or scenes are not the only notes to be found in his designs, for he has revived the long forgotten idyl, and shown us that the lower classes are perhaps more inclined to poetry and to a real return to the "Vie du Coeur" than we imagine. A critic has said that his favourite heroines were thin and pale Faubourg lasses, flowers of the street, and also poor young' girls living with daubers and the like who seem as if they had stepped from the pages of Ibsen. However, it would be unfair to forget his other models, animals, and more especially cats, which have contributed largely to make him famous.
But by this time I was almost at the end or my journey. Steinlen took me into his artistically furnished studio. On the walls hung innumerable drawings, most of them originals, lithographs also, pastel portraits, and so forth, while, through the half-opened bay-window, we had a full view of Paris and the whole of the plain of St. Denis as far as the Montmorency hills.
My host, dressed in his usual blue velvet studio costume, began to talk daily and cheerfully: " I am really a new hand at posters," said he, "and I do not think I have done more than ten altogether up till now."
" I have called on behalf of the poster," I said, " which hopes in time to reproduce them all in its columns."
"Well, to announce new publications," said Steinlen, " I have done an affiche for ' Paris,' by Zola, and another one -for Coppee's ' Coupable.' As for the Roi de Paris' announcement, it is not exactly a poster, being only an enlargement of the black and white design I did to illustrate the cover of Georges Ohnet's novel, the lettering only has been altered and put in colours. I have also done a poster to announce Zo d'Axas' periodical—' La Feuille,' and another one for my own sketches of the ' Chat Noir' Cabaret. Then I of course produced ' La Rue ' for the poster printer Verneau, the ' Nestles Milk ' affiche, the girl in red with three cats, and a bill for Yvette Guilbert."
" Now that I am talking of the Yvette Guilbert placard, I may say that I am surprised that French theatrical managers do not follow the example of their English coiifr&rer. Why should they eternally use the old-fashioned, out-of-date letterpress play-bills, instead f artistic posters such as all the English theatres, even the smallest ones, do ? They will have to come to it, and the public, I hope, will insist on their doing so. I know that lately a few have been posted on our hoardings, but they were all English or American—and some of them were even done for ' Two Little Vagabonds,' a French play, translated and produced in London !"
"And may I ask your opinion of the works of the affichistes on the other side of the Channel ? "
" Some of them have really done remarkable work, and there is no doubt they have made rapid progress in this special branch of art. Dudley Hardy, the English poster-king, inspired by Cheret at first, has a very personal and interesting talent. After him many have come with new ideas, admirable effects, and sometimes wonderful boldness. Among these artists I may mention Morrow,Hassall, and True."
"And the Beggarstaffs ? "
"Oh, the Beggarstaffs are masters di primo cartello. We are all unanimous ere in admiring their art on account its simplicity and vigour. Their works are simply marvellous."
" Now, I will not detain you any longer, but just one last word. What do you think of the poster ? "
" I think it a most interesting venture, as nothing like it has ever been done before on the Continent. Your magazine has the sympathy of every artist in France, and I should think that it is bound to succeed."
After a few parting words, I returned to Paris with my grumbling cabby and his wretched hack.
Source:
Paul Duverney. (Translated from the French by H. R. Woestyn.) 'A Chat With Steinlen' The Poster, Christmas Issue. 1898, No. 6 Vol 1.
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