Le Chat
Around 140 years ago the black cat was sitting on a piano.
Le Chat Noir is thought to be the first modern cabaret. A nightclub where the patrons sat at tables and drank alcoholic beverages while being entertained by variety shows on stage. From 1882 to 1895 the cabaret published a weekly magazine with the same name, featuring literary writings, news from the cabaret and Montmartre, poetry, and political satire. It was the subject of an iconic Swiss-born French Art Nouveau painter and printmaker – Théophile Alexandre Steinlen poster in 1896. The poster advertising a tour to other cities of Le Chat Noir’s troupe of cabaret entertainers. Famous men and women to patronise Le Chat Noir included can-can dancer Jane Avril, Claude Debussy-the first Impressionist composer, Paul Signac-French Neo-Impressionist painter, Marie Krysinska- Polish-French symbolist poet, novelist, and musician; and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colorful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the sometimes decadent affairs of those times.
These extraordinary people, living in a bohemian village atmosphere at the heart of an increasingly vast and impersonal Paris; the peace and optimism marked by industrial progress, and a particularly rich cultural exuberance which was present at the opening of the Moulin Rouge; Japanism, an artistic movement inspired by the Orient. Festivities and artists mixed with pleasure and beauty like from Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris”, all of those little pieces of the colourful world made an impact on my imagination.
La tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Salis poster was the very first of my paintings. Inspired by talented people, interesting history and a bohemian atmosphere.
140 years later, the black cat is sitting on my piano, and my poster started the painting tour to the unknown.
So call me chat,
@chat_panthera