Soon after Salis' death, the artists dispersed, and Le Chat Noir slowly disappeared. By that time the fascination with Montmartre had already diminished, and Salis had already disposed of many of the club's assets and facilities. The death of Rodophe Salis in 1897 spelled the end of Le Chat Noir. Salis was talking of plans to move the cabaret to a location in Paris itself, but he died on 19 March 1897. The last shadow play by Salis' company was staged in January 1897, after which Salis took the company on tour. It was here that the Salon des Arts Incohérents (Salon of Incoherent Arts), shadow plays, and comic monologues got their start.įamous men and women to patronize Le Chat Noir included Jane Avril, Franc-Nohain, Adolphe Willette, Caran d'Ache, André Gill, Émile Cohl, Paul Bilhaud, Sarah England, Paul Verlaine, Henri Rivière, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Charles Cros, Jules Laforgue, Yvette Guilbert, Charles Moréas, Albert Samain, Louis Le Cardonnel, Coquelin Cadet, Emile Goudeau, Alphonse Allais, Maurice Rollinat, Maurice Donnay, Armand Masson, Aristide Bruant, Théodore Botrel, Paul Signac, Porfirio Pires, August Strindberg, George Auriol, Marie Krysinska, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. With exaggerated, ironic politeness, Salis most often played the role of conférencier (post-performance lecturer, or master of ceremonies). Soon a growing crowd of poets and singers was gathering at Le Chat Noir, which offered an ideal venue and opportunity to practice their acts before fellow performers, guests and colleagues. The new venue was the sumptuous old private mansion of the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens, who, at Salis' request, transformed it into a "fashionable country inn" with the help of the architect Maurice Isabey. In June 1885, three and a half years after opening, it moved to larger accommodations at 12 Rue Victor-Massé. Le Chat Noir soon outgrew its first site. Salis met Goudeau, whom he convinced to relocate the club meeting place across the river on rue de Laval (now rue Victor-Massé). Goudeau's club met in his house on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank), but had become so popular that it outgrew its meeting place. Their name doubled as a nod to the " rabid" zeal with which they advocated their sociopolitical and aesthetic agendas.
The group claimed to be averse to water, preferring wine and beer. Its success was assured with the wholesale arrival of a group of radical young writers and artists called Les Hydropathes ("those who are afraid of water – so they drink only wine"), a club led by the journalist Émile Goudeau. It was the subject of an iconic Théophile Steinlen poster in 1896.ĭetail from LE CHAT NOIR journal, number 152, 6 Decembre 1884. From 1882 to 1895 the cabaret published a weekly magazine with the same name, featuring literary writings, news from the cabaret and Montmartre, poetry, and political satire. In its heyday it was a bustling nightclub that was part artist salon, part rowdy music hall.
Petersburg ( Stray Dog Café) to Barcelona ( Els Quatre Gats) to London's Cave of the Golden Calf. Its imitators have included cabarets from St. The acts were introduced by a master of ceremonies who interacted with well-known patrons at the tables. 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. 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 ( French pronunciation: French for "The Black Cat") was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. Théophile Steinlen's 1896 poster advertising a tour to other cities ("coming soon") of Le Chat Noir's troupe of cabaret entertainers