Old Songs
Medium
Lithograph in black with hand-coloring in colored pencil on cream wove paper
Dimensions
41.2 × 21.7 cm (16 1/4 × 8 9/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
49622
Art Historical Context
Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's *Old Songs* (n.d.) is a charming lithograph in black ink, delicately enhanced with hand-coloring in colored pencil on cream wove paper, measuring 41.2 × 21.7 cm. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this intimate work exemplifies Steinlen's mastery of the medium, where lithography allowed for bold, expressive lines and subtle tonal gradations, while the hand-applied color adds a personal, artisanal touch rare in mass-produced posters. A Swiss-born artist who thrived in fin-de-siècle Paris, Steinlen was a key figure in the Bell...
About the Artist
Théophile-Alexandre Pierre Steinlen · 1859–1923
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, born on November 10, 1859, in Lausanne, Switzerland, grew up in an environment steeped in artistic influence, with his grandfather serving as a drawing teacher in nearby Vevey. He studied literature at the University of Lausanne before working as a designer trainee in a Mulhouse textile mill. In his early twenties, around 1881, Steinlen married Émilie Mey, and the cou...