Le Chat Noir By Toulouse Lautrec – “Black Cat”

This is a deck of French playing cards from Paris based on a print of the famous artist/ poster artist - Toulouse Loutrec. The graphics on this deck of cards are in the French style. Physically unable to participate in many activities enjoyed by boys his age, Toulouse-Lautrec immersed himself in art. He became an important Post-Impressionist painter, art nouveau illustrator and lithographer. Through his works, he recorded many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris. Le Chat Noir (French pronunciation for "The Black Cat" was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard de Rochechouart by the impresario Rodolphe Salis, and closed in 1897 not long after Salis' death. Le Chat Noir is thought to be the first modern cabaret: a nightclub where the patrons sat at tables and drank alcoholic beverages while being entertained by a variety show on stage. The acts were introduced by a master of ceremonies who interacted with well-known patrons at the tables. Its imitators have included cabarets from St. Petersburg (Stray Dog Café) to Barcelona (Els Quatre Gats) to London's Cave of the Golden Calf.