THEOPHILE-ALEXANDRE STEINLEN LE JOURNAL / TRAITE DE BLANCHES. 1899.

31x23 1/4 inches. Charle Verneau, Paris.
Condition B+: repaired tears and restoration in margins; with faint Sagot stamp. Faded.
This poster is for a serialized version of a scandalous novel, "White Slavery," which ferociously denounced prostitution. It was just the kind of project that Steinlen could use to express his progressive political sensitivity in an artistic manner. Steinlen, who shared the views of the author, Dubut de la Forest, created a powerful poster that used attention, detail and care to depict a fat, pretentious pimp ignoring three of his women. In fact, his poster incurred the full wrath of the Parisian censors, who were enraged at the exposed breasts of a working girl. Steinlen had experienced minor problems with censorship before, when he printed the poster for his exhibition at La Bodiniere, in 1894, on white paper, which was legally reserved for official state postings. Steinlen was obliged by the French Prefecture of Police to go back to the printer and add a deshabille to the scandalous nudity. This is the pre-censored, smaller format of the poster (see Swann Auction 1945 lot 103), which is identical to the larger except for the frame added around the image and an extension of the couch to accommodate some extra text. Crauzat no. 503, Bargiel & Zagrodski no. 35 (variant D), Wine Spectator, pl. 111 (var).