Rodolphe Salis

Biography

Salis was the son of a distiller in Châtellerault. After leaving his regiment, he came to Paris in 1872 and moved into the Hôtel de Rome on Rue de Seine in the Latin Quarter. He founded L'école vibrante, soon renamed L'école iriso-subversive de Chicago to attract attention to his artistic group. At the time, he earned a living by painting Stations of the Cross and other religious objects, which he and his friends produced. The work was divided among four 'students': René Gilbert painted heads, Wagner hands, Antonio de La Gandara draperies, and Salis backgrounds and landscapes. The pieces were sold at eight and fourteen francs each in a shop selling religious articles in the Saint Sulpice. Seeking to combine art and alcoholic beverage, Salis conceived a café 'in the purest style of Louis XII ... with a chandelier of wrought iron from the Byzantine period' where patrons could drink absinthe and hypocras. The first tavern, Le Chat Noir, opened in November 1881 in a two-room building at 84 Boulevard Rochechouart, serving bad wine with inferior décor. A Swiss guard bedecked in gold greeted guests, admitting painters and poets while barring 'infamous priests and the military'. A high marble fireplace displayed 'The Skull of Louis XIII as a Child'. Success came when the group Les Hydropathes, led by Émile Goudeau, arrived en masse; the group had outgrown its original meeting place on the Rive Gauche. On 10 June 1885, Salis moved to new premises at 12 Rue Victor-Masse. Salis acted as impresario and emcee, greeting customers with insults: to a latecomer, 'Well, you're finally out of prison?'; to a man with his wife, 'What have you done with your chick from yesterday?'; and to the future King Edward VII, 'Well, look here: it looks like the Prince of Wales all pissed!' Every Friday, luncheon was used to prepare performances and edit a humorous magazine. Salis was known for stinginess, finding excuses not to pay staff, suppliers, and artists, and even asking to be paid by those he hosted. He installed a piano in the tavern, an innovation soon banned in newer establishments, giving him an advantage over competition. In the 1890s, Salis took the Black Cat entertainment company on tour through France, often refusing to pay venue hire charges. Salis died in Naintré in 1897. A decade later, a third Le Chat Noir opened in 1907 at 68 Boulevard de Clichy.