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personality. As an advertisement, it must be confessed, it is not all that could be desired. The colour scheme, while very dainty, is not one which insists on its presence on the hoardings, so that the proximity of (for example) a Chéret renders it to some extent ineffective. At the same time, it is one of the most charming designs of the kind in existence, and no collector should fail to possess himself of a copy. It exists in three states: proofs before letters pulled in two tints only, ordinary proofs before letters, and prints after letters. In the former state it is rapidly increasing in value, but, insomuch as the lettering is of the essence of the design, the final state is the most desirable of all. To advertise an exhibition of his own work, Steinlen produced another study of cats, which is almost as agreeable as the "Lait pur." It is in two states: proofs before and after letters. The artist's design for the watering-place, Vernet-les-Bains, is not very important, but his early "Mothu et Doria," in three states, should not be overlooked. Earlier in date than any of the designs I have discussed is the "Trouville" and "Le Rêve." The latter is a pretty composition reproduced in chromotypo-gravure. While the posters of Steinlen are not so striking on the hoarding as those of some of his contemporaries, they are of the highest artistic interest, and will no doubt take a place second to none in the affections of many collectors. It is significant that already the rarest of them are by no means easy to procure.
The art of Ibels is as little comprised in the poster as that of Steinlen. It is happily characteristic of young artists of the present day, both here and in France, that painting is not the only god of their aesthetic adoration:
they experiment in many mediums, and it is really remarkable in how great a number of such experiments they succeed. What is generally true, is especially so of H. G. Ibels. Like Grasset, he has held an exhibition of his pictures at the Salon des Cent; he has made his mark in the galleries of the Champs de Mars; he has designed the covers of several pieces of music, and of a volume of poems by his brother, entitled "Chansons Colorées"; in addition, he is well-known as a book illustrator. His point of view is somewhat akin to that of Toulouse-Lautrec: he is passionately interested in his own moment, and depicts modern life with similar insistence on its ugly and grotesque aspects. And yet Ibels rarely fails to be decorative, and his style is the outcome of his own artistic personality, rather than the result of study of the work of other men. In his posters he has been conspicuously successful; so much so, that it is difficult to point to a single failure, though, it must be remembered, that as yet his productions have not been very numerous. It is possible
