Masseïda nue allongée sur un divan

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen was a Swiss-born artist who spent his career in Montmartre, where he designed the famous Tournée du Chat Noir poster, illustrated for socialist publications under pseudonyms to avoid political trouble, and fed dozens of neighborhood cats from his apartment on the Rue Caulaincourt. He was friends with Toulouse-Lautrec, influenced Picasso, and helped found an artists' union. In Masseïda nue allongée sur un divan is a pastel (Masseïda Reclining Nude on a Divan), a woman reclines on striped cushions with a red flower in her hair, a dish of fruit and a bottle on the floor before her. The background is built in dense vertical strokes of brown, blue, and dark red. The figure is rendered in deep blacks and warm browns, her skin set against the bright greens, pinks, and whites of the fabric beneath her.