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110
LAIT PUR STERILISE. 1894.
Charles Verneau, Paris.
56x39 inches.
- Notes: Lait Pur Sterilise, is the first poster Verneau printed for Steinlen. It was only Steinlen's second poster in his "mature style" (Arwas, p. 54), but the artist and the printer would have a long and prosperous relationship together. The poster instantly became a success and has remained an iconic image of the period. "The poster established Steinlen as a masterful illustrator of cats" (Cate & Gill p. 116). The image is almost deceptively simple, featuring the artist's daughter, Colette, sitting at a table sipping from a bowl of milk, with three cats at her feet hoping for a single spilled drop. It is a delicate image, beautifully drawn on stone with a "flowing curvilinearity" (Cates & Gill p. 122). Steinlen used green rather than black for outlining, which added to the soft feel of the image. Georges Auriol, the famous typographer and one of Steinlen's closest friends, gives the following account of how the artist found his calling: "Like everybody, he [Steinlen] had admired the posters of Jules Cheret . . .but considered lithography a crude job, accidentally discovered by a man of genius, but besides Cheret the process was just good enough to sell cigars and agricultural machines." When the Quillot Brothers, who had a milk dairy in Burgundy, approached Steinlen about advertising, however, Steinlen's opinion began to change. "It is under these circumstances that Henri Riviere introduced Alex to the good printer Charles Verneau. While in the printing shop Steinlen had the lithographic process explained to him and was immediately invited to try his hand on a stone. The reaction was marvelous. As soon as his pencil touched the stone he felt that he had found the perfect tool for him . . . the poster for the Lait de Vingeanne, where Colette is drawn amidst her feline friends was, like Toulouse-Lautrec's Aristide Bruant, great fortune for collectors who still look for it with the same zeal." (Steinlen). Crauzat p. 134, Bargiel & Zagrodski p. 40, Maitres p. 54. Masters, pl. 95, Wine Spectator pl. 112.
- Condition: Condition B+: replaced paper, restoration, repaired tears and overpainting in margins.
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December 18, 2003 12:00 AM EST
New York, NY, US
Swann Auction Galleries
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