Miniature Le Chat Noir Black Cat Statue by Steinlen

This miniature Le Chat Noir Black Cat statue by Steinlen is a petite rendition of a famous poster for Le Chat Noir and is part of the Parastone Museum collection. It is made from resin with hand painted color details. Comes in a gift presentation box. Measures: 2"W x 1"D x 4.25"H. Statue weighs 5 oz. Poster for La Tournee du Chat Noir (Black Cat, 1896)
In 1881, Rudolphe Salis opened the Le Chat Noir Cabaret on the Boulevard Rochechouart (which later moved to the Rue de Laval). It soon became a legendary safe haven for the stage arts and Steinlen resided at its heart. He designed scenery, worked on the popular shadow plays, and in particular, he designed the famous poster which adorned Paris' walls. The black and red cat (the colors of anarchy) became Montmartre's symbol, the enclave and gathering site of artists. The text: Montjoye Montmartre (Montmartre my joy) halos the beast's mystical head. The press freedoms act and new printing methods gave Salis the opportunity to also publish a magazine. Le Chat Noir became a great success, even outside France, and this radiated onto Steinlen as its principal illustrator. Cats always played a major role in Steinlen's work. He loved the stray cats on Montmartre's roofs as did his colleagues, and adopted many of them to his wife's dismay. Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923)
Steinlen stopped taking philosophy at a university in his home town of Lausanne prematurely to start working in Mulhouse as a textile designer. The socially committed, kindhearted artist left for Paris in 1881 with his wife, where they moved to the hill of Montmartre, a neighborhood which was about to develop into the epicenter of the French avant-garde. He befriended the painter Adolphe Willette who introduced him to the artistic circles around the Le Chat Noir Cabaret. In the early 1890's, Steinlen still painted traditional subjects such as landscapes, flower still life and nudes, and these were exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Independents. Later work increasingly displayed social-realist tendencies. Steinlen became a sought after illustrator for legendary magazines such as Le Rire and Gil Bas. Some of his illustrations appeared pseudonymous in order to prevent political repercussions.

• Size: 2"W x 1"D x 4.25"H
• Weight: 0.3 lbs
• Material: Resin with Hand Painted Color Details
• Made In: China

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Museum Reproductions Information:

History of Art Reproductions: As far as we know, the history of art reproductions takes us back to Imperial Rome where bronze and marble reproductions of Greek masterpieces served as decoration for lavish Roman Villas and Gardens. The art of casting is thousands of years old: Terracotta’s, Bronzes and ancient glass were cast from molds. Closer to our time in the mid 18th century coinciding with the search for new artistic styles which took inspiration from the roots of classic art (neoclassicism) and the discovery of Herculaneum in 1738 and Pompeii in 1748, archaeological reproductions reappeared all over Europe. As a result of French expeditions to Egypt during the nineteenth century, a casting facility was set up next to the Louvre Museum where many important archaeological pieces from ancient Egypt were reproduced. Following the example of the Louvre, other leading European museums began to reproduce some of the masterpieces in their collections thus initiating a trend that continues until today.

Art Reproduction Craftsmanship: For the making of art reproductions, masterpieces have been chosen from the best museums all over the world, The Louvre, The British Museum, The National Museum of Athens, The Egyptian Museum Cairo, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only use materials and techniques that can achieve the best quality in reproducing original works of art to obtain very fine pieces, up to the last detail. Our sculptures are cast in a variety of mediums: Bonded Stone, Polyresins, and Bronze. The finish of each reproduction, is always hand-made and showing craftsmanship and historical sense, is the work of an artisan. It is the task to present to the people of today the legacy of those ancient civilizations with all the beauty and mystery of our ancestors again in front of our eyes and at the reach of our hands. There is several steps that must be taken before a museum reproduction sculpture can be made. Most of our items are original artworks created by our sculptors, carved out of clay, stone, or wood. Once the original is carved, a mold is made, usually out of silicon. Crushed stone in a liquid resin medium is poured into a silicon mold where it solidifies into a hard stone that reproduces all the detail and texture of the original. All the finishes are done by hand. Many finishes include color detailing, a labor intensive process where colors are applied with small brushes by our skilled artisans.