On your wall
Le Grand Siècle de l’Affiche · Les Maîtres de l’Affiche
Pl 34 - Steinlen
Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen · Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, vol. 1 (Imprimerie Chaix, Paris), 1895
What it is
A colour lithograph by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, issued in 1895 as Plate 34 of the first volume of Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, printed by Imprimerie Chaix in Paris. The Commons cataloguing places it among French opera posters and ties it to the composer Victor Alphonse Duvernoy.
Why it matters
Les Maîtres de l'Affiche was Chaix's monthly portfolio that reprinted the era's best posters at collectable scale, and Steinlen earned his plate as the Montmartre draughtsman of the generation. Where most of his neighbours in the series worked in flat blocks of colour, he drew.
What to notice
Look for the soft crayon-on-stone grain in the drawing — the tooth of the lithographic crayon that marks his hand apart from the flat-colour designers around him.
Proof that a poster could still be a drawing.
Provenance
- School
- Belle Époque — the Affiche (France)
- Designer
- Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen
- Printer / house
- Imprimerie Chaix, Paris
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, vol. 1 (Imprimerie Chaix, Paris), 1895
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica)
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 27x41" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
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