On Cats by Jacques Dalbray

Series Title: L’Illustration

1901

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

(Swiss, 1859–1923)

Culture

Switzerland

Medium

Color lithograph illustration with letterpress

Measurements

Overall: 39.5 x 58.2 cm (15 9/16 x 22 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Elizabeth Carroll Shearer 2016.247

Catalogue raisonné

Crauzat

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Location

Not on view

Description

On this page from the March 30, 1901, issue of L’Illustration (Illustration), a French magazine, colorful depictions of cats surround a short text praising those animals and their place in history. The cats sit, sleep, and prowl around the columns of text, as if they are furnishings to climb and sleep on. Color illustrations were particularly difficult and expensive to reproduce before the advent of modern printing technology because each color had to be printed independently. As a result, artists like Théophile Alexandre Steinlen developed strategies to achieve the maximum effect by overlapping as
few colors as possible, such as the yellow, gray, and black that create a variety of fur patterns here.