(Lausanne, 1859 - Paris, 1923)
Dans les Fleurs, 1893
Black pencil and colored pencils on paper
Signed lower right Steinlen
Signed with a brush on a cardboard cut on the back of the assembly Th A. Steinlen
41.4 x 19.8 cm (paper)
36.9 x 15.4 cm (subject)
Provenance :
Private collection, Paris
Literature:
- Dans les Fleurs by Jean Richepin in Illustrated Gil Blas, 3rd year, June 18, 1893, illustrated on the 3rd page
- Will be refernced in the Catalogue Raisonné of the work of Steinlen currently being prepared by Mrs. Claude Orset and Elisabeth Maréchaux-Laurentin
The French newspaper Gil Blas was founded in 1879 and disappeared in 1940. As early as 1891, there appeared a weekly supplement, Gil Blas Illustré with original illustrations in color. The supplement included songs by Aristide Bruant or Yvette Guilbert, but also poems, serialized novels (such as Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola), as well as articles and short stories by Guy de Maupassant.
Steinlen was one of the most illustrious draughtsmen of Gil Blas Illustré; he worked there from 1891 to 1900.
The poet and novelist Jean Richepin (Medea, 1849 - Paris, 1926) was one of the feathers of Gil Blas Illustré. Richepin became famous in 1876 with his scandalous book La Chanson des Gueux which was seized for contempt of good morals. The following year appeared Les Caresses, a collection of poems with raw language and unbridled sensuality.
Jean Richepin's poem entitled Dans les fleurs, originally published in Les Caresses, was again published in the illustrated Gil Blas of 1893, with an illustration by Steinlen of which this drawing is the original.
