The Rubbish Cart 1902

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen made this print, The Rubbish Cart, with etching, drypoint, and aquatint. It looks like he built up the image with a network of tiny, nervous marks. You can sense him working and reworking the plate, trying to capture the feeling of a dark city street at night, maybe even the smell! I imagine him hunched over a zinc plate, scratching in the image one line at a time. Did he hesitate, or did he just go for it? There’s a real immediacy here, which chimes with other artists like Daumier and Toulouse-Lautrec. They were both interested in capturing everyday life, especially the lives of working people. There's a great sense of solidarity in Steinlen’s work and he's trying to capture that feeling. You know, art isn't made in a vacuum, and artists build on each other’s ideas. I'd love to think that he felt connected to other artists grappling with the same problems.