Born in
Lausanne, Switzerland, Steinlen studied at the
University of Lausanne before taking a job as a designer trainee at a
textile mill in
Mulhouse in eastern France. In his early twenties he was still developing his skills as a painter when he and his wife Emilie Mey were encouraged by the painter
François Bocion to move to the artistic community in the
Montmartre Quarter of
Paris. Once there, Steinlen was befriended by the painter
Adolphe Willette who introduced him to the artistic crowd at
Le Chat Noir that led to his commissions to do
poster art for the
cabaret owner/entertainer
Aristide Bruant and for other commercial enterprises. In the early 1890s, Steinlen's paintings of rural
landscapes, flowers, and
nudes were being shown at the
Salon des Indépendants. His 1895
lithograph titled
Les Chanteurs des Rues was the
frontispiece to a work entitled
Chansons de Montmartre published by
Éditions Flammarion with sixteen original lithographs that illustrated the
Belle Époque songs of
Paul Delmet. Five of his posters were published in ''
Les Maîtres de l'Affiche''. His permanent home, Montmartre and its environs, was a favorite subject throughout Steinlen's life and he often painted scenes of some of the harsher aspects of life in the area. His daughter, Colette, was featured in much of his work. In addition to paintings and drawings, he also did
sculpture on a limited basis, most notably figures of
cats that he had great affection for as seen in many of his paintings. Steinlen became a regular contributor to
Le Rire and
Gil Blas magazines plus numerous other publications including ''
L'Assiette au Beurre and Les Humouristes'', a short-lived magazine he and a dozen other artists jointly founded in 1911. Between 1883 and 1920, he produced hundreds of illustrations, a number of which were done under a
pseudonym so as to avoid political problems because of their harsh criticisms of social ills. His art influenced the work of other artists, including
Pablo Picasso. ==Selected works==