?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
[L'ASSOMMOIR.] 1900. Before lettering. 76 3/4x54 1/2 inches. Charles Verneau, Paris. Condition B: cracks and paper loss along vertical and horizontal folds; paper loss and skinning along top margin; old linen. This is a poster Steinlen created to advertise a production of a play based on Emile Zola's novel. Steinlen must have really enjoyed working on the poster, as the story was one with the kind of socially profound subject that he was so passionate about. L'Assomoir<> (The Gin Trap) is a drama about alcoholism and the working class. "His social awakening dates from that reading [of Zola's novel in 1877]." (Cate & Gill p. 23). The result is one of his best evocations of popular Paris. The two heroes of the play, Gervais and Coupeau, are shown sitting at an outdoor table at their local bistro, with the bar and the local drunkards and roustabouts in the background. "Steinlen had the gift of extracting social meaning from a specific human situation; thus the viewer is struck first by a convincing drama, which is strengthened by the quality of the drawing, and is then led to consider larger ideological conclusions" (Cate & Gill p. 13).When the text was added, announcing the particulars of the play, the lettering appeared on the wall, behind the couple in the form of a poster. Without text, this gigantic, light-toned illustration can actually be viewed as a hopeful and loving scene. Crauzat p. 137, Bargiel & Zagrodski p. 66, Gold 86 (var).
![[LASSOMMOIR.] 1900. Before lettering. 76x54 inches. Charles Verneau, Paris.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//830\503830.jpg)
