THÉOPHILE ALEXANDRE STEINLEN (Switzerland, 1859 - France, 1923). "Characters". Watercolour and ink on paper. Signed. Size: 21 x 33,5 cm; 36,5 x 48,5 cm (frame). Théophile Alexandre Steinlen was a French-Swiss painter and illustrator of the Art Nouveau period. He also worked in sculpture, both in relief and in the round, as well as in lithography and photography. He trained at the University of Lausanne, his native city, and after completing his studies he began to work in a textile factory in Mulhouse, in eastern France. At the same time he continued to develop his talent as a painter and finally moved to Paris on the advice of the painter François Bocion. There he joined the group of artists grouped around Le Chat Noir. There he began his career as a painter and illustrator, receiving commissions from figures such as Aristide Bruant. In the 1890s he began to exhibit his landscapes, vases and nudes at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. In the same decade he published his first illustrations and began to cultivate sculpture, mainly depicting cat figures. Since then he has been a regular contributor to the publications "Le Rire" and "Gil Blas", among others, where he published mostly satirical illustrations. He is currently represented in the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Metropolitan in New York and other major collections.