Overture for The Woman from Seville, for Piano, by Cecile Chaminade
published May 18, 1889
Medium
Lithograph in blue, red, lavender, black and cream on cream wove paper, folded to create sheet music cover
Dimensions
Sheet, folded: 34.9 × 26.9 cm (13 3/4 × 10 5/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
51864
Art Historical Context
This vibrant lithograph by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen served as the cover for the sheet music of Cécile Chaminade’s piano overture “The Woman from Seville,” published in Paris on May 18, 1889. Steinlen, celebrated for his fluid draftsmanship and social observation, brought his distinctive Art Nouveau sensibility to commercial illustration. The folded sheet—measuring roughly 14 by 11 inches—transforms a functional music cover into a miniature work of art, inviting the purchaser to enjoy both the composer’s melodies and the artist’s imagery. Printed in five colors on cream wove paper, the lit...
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...