Studio: international art (87.1924)

THEOPHILE ALEXANDRE STEINLEN

ILLUSTRATION TO JEAN RICHE-
PIN'S "CHANSON DES GUEUX

(gueuxdes champs)/* litho-
graph BY T. A. STEINLEN

(Editions d’Art J^douard Pelletan)

Bruant, going further still, made himself
the poet of society’s pariahs, of the whole
clandestine life of certain quarters. “ This
poet,” wrote Francois Coppee, “ frank
even to cynicism, but not lacking in
tenderness, seeks his inspiration in the
gutter, but he sees shining there the re-
flection of a star, which is sweet pity.”
It was Steinlen who illustrated Bruant’s
“ Chansons de la Rue ” with a series of
drawings wonderfully in keeping with the
text, raising himself, as did the author,
to the poetry of great art. Not content
with a pedestrian realism, he lit up his
models with an inward vision, gave them
a sensitive soul and idealised them after
his own fashion. His drawings are not
only seen by an artist accustomed to
portraying the truth; they are full of the
feeling of a great spirit. Other books
illustrated by him were “ L’Entree du
Clown,” by F. Champsaur; the “ Chan-
sons de Femme,” by P. Delmet; “ Bara-
bas,”byLucienDescaves ;“Crainquebille,”
by Anatole France; and the “ Chanson
des Gueux,” by Richepin. Always pas-
sionately fond of animals, he published in
his sketch-books some drawings of cats,
which were very popular with the public.
By many he is considered the finest
126

painter of cats, and all his life he never
ceased to study their proud attitudes and
strange nature. 0000
As we have already said, Steinlen
designed a poster for the “ Chat Noir.”
Poster-illustration was then, indeed, quite
a new thing, and in France it reached a
high artistic level in the sparkling colour-
fantasies of Cheret, the original ideas of
Grasset and the performances, so full of
movement, of Toulouse-Lautrec and Ibels.
As for Steinlen, he was to find in the
poster a veritable mural print, and an
opportunity for self-expression through
and for the people. His compositions are
largely ornamental, very simple in draw-
ing, but broad and vigorous, executed in
grey and black tones, enlivened only by
a few splashes of colour. 000
The War stirred him to his depths, for
was it not the dreadful negation of all
his hopes, of all his dreams of pity and
love, and was it not once more the day
of sacrifice and suffering for the people i
Steinlen (who had, moreover, become a
French subject) went twice to the front,
to make sketches from life, and in Paris
he spent long days at the Gare de l’Est or
the Gare du Nord watching the wounded
coming in and the troops entraining
amid heart-breaking farewells which were

ILLUSTRATION TO JEAN RICHE-
PIN’S “ CHANSON DES GUEUX
(GUEUX DE PARIS).” LITHO-
GRAPH BY T. A. STEINLEN
(Editions d’Art Edouard Pelletan)