Prochainement la très illustre Compagnie du Chat Noir (Poster for the Company of the Black Cat)

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Artist: Théophile Steinlen (Swiss, 1859–1923)
Medium: color lithograph on wove paper, mounted on muslin
Size: sheet: 62.1 × 39.2 cm (24 7/16 × 15 7/16 in.)
Museum: National Gallery of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

A black cat sitting on a red block looks out at us in this vertical poster. The background is parchment brown, and the poster is printed with ruby red and inky black. The cat sits to the left of center with its body facing our right almost in profile. Its tall, narrow shoulders are drawn together, creating a ruff like a mink stole around its face, and its fur stands up in curling bristles along its back. Its head turns to us with the ears flattened out to the sides over eyes defined with only tall, narrow slits for pupils. Long whiskers flounce up and out from its lowered eyebrows and prim muzzle.

A halo-like, red shape around its head has geometric patterns around a band of curving, organically shaped text, “MONTJOYE MONTMARTRE.” Its claws make a row of black points along the top edge of the red block on which it sits, and its tail curls down over the words there. Red and black text across the entire poster and into the block read, “PROCHAINEMENT la très illustre Compagnie du CHAT NOIR avec ses PIÈCES d’OMBRES CÈLÈBRES, ses POËTES ses COMPOSITEURS AVCE RODOLPHE SALIS.” Text running vertically up the right edge in that corner reads, “Imp. CHARLES VERNEAU, 114, Rue Oberkampf, PARIS.”