Theophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923)
Contes au bord de la mer
c.1890-1900
Pastel on paper
Signed lower right
12 x 10 in / 30,5 x 25,4 cm
Framed: 19.25 x 17.5 in / 48,9 x 44,5 cm

Provenance:
Peter H. Deitsch Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
By descent to current owner

Art nouveau painter and printmaker, Steinlen, gained acclaim for his illustrations featured in various magazines, journals, and advertisement posters. Many of his pastel and painted street scenes and studies contained darker, monochromatic colors in comparison to the vivid tones that graced his famous prints. However, on occasion Steinlen did employ the bright colors that he was so well known for, incorporating them into a subject’s blouse or hair intermittently making them pop against invariant backgrounds.

In Contes au bord de la mer, Steinlen does just this, weaving in bright corals and aquamarine blues into the clothing of his female subjects. The artist even bestows color onto the ocean in the background, a choice that is atypical of many of these public scenes.

This is an online only sale. Items may be viewed upon appointment in New York City.

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