"Born on the shores of Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland, Steinlen..... studied philosophy at the university there and went on to accept a position as a trainee textile designer in Mulhouse, a town and commune in eastern France.
"Whilst in his early twenties, and newly married, the young artist was persuaded by the painter Francois-Louis David Bocion, his tutor at the university, to move to the Montmartre district of Paris.
"There he became acquainted with the avant garde artistic and literary social milieu of the Chat Noir (Black Cat) cabaret.
"Steinlen became friends with and worked with the writer Emile Zola, the composer Paul Delmet, Jean Richepin and other poets, Toulouse-Lautrec the artist, and significantly the French cabaret singer, songwriter, comedian and nightclub owner Aristide Bruant.
"...Theophile Alexandre Steinlen established himself as a prominent illustrator of popular journals of the period such as Le Rire and Gil Blas, and contributed original lithographs to music publishers who used them as cover art for their popular sheet music.
"Steinlen is perhaps best known for his wonderful commercial posters depicting Parisian life.
"Often compared with the posters of his friend and fellow illustrator Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen's works are personal, simplistic and intimate.
"These colorful lithograph posters provided an inexpensive means of advertising for the influx of mass produced goods entering the market place, as well as advertising the popular cabaret and theatrical stars of the period.....
"He created hundreds of works, several of which were produced under a pseudonym such as Treelan and Pierre, to evade political trouble because of their sharp criticism of Paris society."
Steinlen adored cats, and used his pets as models. The cat above in the advertisement for hot chocolate, may well have been one of his own cats. According to a good site for cat art:
"As a young boy, Steinlen drew cats in the margins of his books and grew up to live in a house he named, “Cat’s Cottage”. While living in Paris, his house on the Rue Caulaincourt became a well-known gathering place for all the cats in the quartier. "
Theophile Steinlen also used his daughter Colette as a model, and perhaps that is her above.
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