LE CHAT NOIR, 1896
Created as an advertisement poster for tour performances of the famous shadow theatre run by Parisian nightclub Le Chat Noir, Art Nouveau painter and printmaker Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s aloof, watchful black cat has become as iconic as the club itself. Le Chat Noir – regarded by many as the first cabaret club – originally opened in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris in 1881, and was soon frequented by all manner of artistic and literary avant-garde patrons, including painter and printmaker Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.