Henri Privat-Livemont
Art Nouveau poster maker
A Belgian artist and one of the best of the post-Mucha Art Nouveau stylists, Henri Privat-Livemont, grabbed my attention when researching artists that made an impact in Graphic Design. All the images featured here are from the Art of the Poster 1880–1918 collection at Lawrence University.
The elegant and extremely detailed works of the Art Nouveau movement have always inspired and fascinated me.
I have always been a big fan of Mucha but I wanted to see a bit less known artists that created similar work and in finding Henri Privat-Livemont I was not disappointed.
Théophile Steinlen
Apart from Henri Privat-Livemont Théophile Alexandre Steinlen stood out to me. He was a Swiss-born French Art Nouveau painter and printmaker, widely known for the La tournée du Chat Noir poster.
In his early twenties he was still developing his skills as a painter when he and his new wife 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 other commercial enterprises.
Today, his works can be found at many museums around the world including at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., United States.
Théophile Steinlen and his beautiful hand drawn posters serve as inspiration for me and I am sure I will be using his artwork as a reference point in my future works.
