Bart Van Der Leck was a founding member of De Stijl, a Dutch art movement based on a strict geometry of horizontals and verticals. This black-and-white cat with piercing eyes looks both intense and friendly.
Tag: animal
Ode to Spot
Data’s poem to his feline companion, a ginger tabby called Spot, is one of the most hilarious moments on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Though his USS Enterprise colleagues are less than impressed with the recital, it is surely a masterpiece of android poetry. Eat your heart out, ChatGPT!
The White Cat by Pierre Bonnard
One of the highlights of the Pierre Bonnard exhibition I visited on the weekend was this humorous painting of a white cat, which still manages to look haughty despite its comically elongated legs. Whether you find the distortion hilarious or hideous, the image certainly grabs your attention.
By Day She Made Herself Into a Cat by Arthur Rackham
Don’t pet this kitty! There’s something special about black cats, and this illustration for The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, about a witch who turns into a black cat and glowers at the world, is one of my favourites. I love the robust and expressive pen and ink technique, and the way the cat simply radiates power and anger.
Cats Sleep Anywhere – A Poem
Cats sleep, anywhere,
Any table, any chair
Top of piano, window-ledge,
In the middle, on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe,
Anybody’s lap will do,
Fitted in a cardboard box,
In the cupboard, with your frocks –
Anywhere! They don’t care!
Cats sleep anywhere.
– Eleanor Farjeon
Top Ten Tuesday – Book Covers with Animals
I haven’t done the bookish lists from That Artsy Reader Girl in a while, so I thought I’d jump back in with this week’s fun topic, Covers with Animals On Them. I deliberately decided to exclude domestic cats, since it would be all too easy for me to get carried away and make an all-feline list.
The Angora Cat by Jean Honoré Fragonard and Marguerite Gérard
The white angora cat will have none of that brushing business thanks very much! I like the small details in this painting: the dog in the bottom left corner, the servant woman in the shadow behind the door, and the eerie reflections of the other people in the room.
Charlie the Cat at Five
At five years old, Charlie has matured a little bit but mostly remains the same silly, mischievous boy.
Child with Cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The painting shows Julie Manet, the daughter of fellow artists Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, and her kitten who seems to be so blissed out in her lap it’s practically smiling. Children can be thoughtlessly cruel, so I assume that Julie was a nice kid to earn this kind of absolute trust from a cat.
From the Point of View of a Cat by Karel Čapek
I read and enjoyed a few short stories by this Czech writer as a teenager, but the one that had stuck with me the most is this humorous and delightful story written from a feline point of view. I love the glimpses of genuine affection behind the arrogance.
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