Le Grand Siècle de l’Affiche · The Masters
Le Petit Sou, journal de défense sociale
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen · Le Petit Sou, 1900
What it is
A colour lithographic advertising poster by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, made in 1900 for Le Petit Sou, a paper subtitled journal de défense sociale.
Why it matters
Steinlen's politics ran through everything he drew: the same hand that gave Montmartre its cats supplied the illustrated left press with its workers and its poor. Here that sympathy is put to work selling a paper that put social defence in its own masthead, aimed squarely at the readers it claimed to speak for. It belongs to the moment when the poster and the cheap political newspaper were the same argument, made on the same wall.
What to notice
It is a tall lithographic sheet, printed to be pasted at full height on a hoarding or column and read from the street.
The advocate's hand, hired to sell the paper that spoke his cause.
Provenance
- School
- Belle Époque — the Affiche (France)
- Designer
- Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- Le Petit Sou, 1900
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) · btv1b9012649h; ENT DN-1 (STEINLEN,Alexandre/3)-ROUL
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 40x60" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
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