The Ball of Yarn card is one of Saturn Press's favorite cards among our many cat lovers. Who doesn't love to see an image of a cat mischievously caught up in a ball of yarn? Anyone who has tried to draw the many movements a cat makes knows how hard it is to accurately capture the cat's fluidity of movement on paper. But what a joyous job artist Theophile Steinlen achieves with his work.
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859–1923) was a Swiss-born French artist renowned for his contributions to the Art Nouveau movement, particularly his iconic posters and prints. He was born on November 10, 1859, in Lausanne, Switzerland, and initially studied at the University of Lausanne. He left college, shifted his attention to design, and worked at a textile mill in Mulhouse, France, where he honed his artistic skills.
In 1881, Steinlen moved to Paris with his wife Emilie Mey, encouraged by painter François Bocion to join the vibrant artistic community in Montmartre. This bohemian neighborhood became central to his life and work. The artists he met there led to poster art commissions and journal illustrations. Steinlen's art was unusual because it combined the decorative elegance of Art Nouveau with the gritty realism of working-class life. In other words, he tried to broaden the scope of Art Nouveau to not just be another decorative art, but to engage people to see the social inequities around them.
Another outstanding contribution made by Steinlen was creating posters and illustrations for journals, which made art more accessible to people. He helped dissolve the boundaries between high art and popular culture by creating art for widely circulated publications and public spaces.
Steinlen is perhaps best known for his lithographic poster Tournée du Chat Noir, which has become an enduring symbol of Parisian culture.
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See The Ball of Yarn card.
