Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Chat au clair de lune, c1900

Theophile Alexandre Steinlen, Chat au clair de lune, c1900

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, (1859-1923) was a French painter and printmaker who lived in Montmartre, Paris. He painted and drew many studies of cats including the now famous poster art for Le Chat Noir. Steinlen’s drawing Chat au clair de lune, c1900, includes symbolist elements of witchcraft and paganism. The abstraction of the tree creates a primeval silhouette which posits the ‘familiar’ cat between the moon and an ancient mound on the horizon.