Dans le Rue
Theophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), Dan le Rue, lithograph, 1911, signed in pencil [also signed in the plate). Reference: Crauzat 295, titled by him as Dan la Rue or also Femme Seule. In the only state, printed on a chine colle, on a heavy cream wove paper. In good condition, with full margins (9 3/4 x 6 1/8, the sheet 15 x 11 inches), archival matting.
Published “hors texte” in the volume La Misere Sociale de la Femme,” a compilation of essays by writers from the 16th to the 20th Century, in 1911, in Paris, by Dewambez.
A very good impression of this rarely encountered image.
Theophile Alexandre Steinlen began his career as an illustrator for several Paris journals (Le Chat Noir, Gil Blas), and was attracted to printmaking presumably because he was such an excellent draughtsman. His lithographic work, such as Dan la Rue, was of course informed by the marvelous draughtsmanship of his fellow-countryman and predecessor Honore Daumier, and in this example we see also the strong influence of impressionism.
Although he is famed publicly for his studies of cats, and his fin de siecle posters, his work throughout his career was marked by strong social consciousness. Early on, he created images of French life – prostitutes and pimps, construction workers and miners, ragpickers and soldiers, and, in this example, a young woman with an umbrella, alone in the wind-blown streets, probably coming home from work.