Sunday, October 5, 2008

Art Animalia - The Cat

Andy Warhol



Pierre Bonnard


Theophile Alexander Steinlen



Young Tiger Playing With Its Mother
Eugene Delacroix

Gwen John
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21 comments:

  1. billieOctober 5, 2008 at 9:54 AM

    i love cats :) i have 2. they are sweet but fairly pesty- want a couple? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Cunning RuntOctober 5, 2008 at 9:56 AM

    They're all beautiful, but I liked the Bonnard best!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 5, 2008 at 10:02 AM

    I like the Bonnard best, too. Cats are cool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jane Hards PhotographyOctober 5, 2008 at 10:20 AM

    These are very beautiful images.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sherry PasquarelloOctober 5, 2008 at 12:34 PM

    i liked them all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. bobbieOctober 5, 2008 at 1:15 PM

    These are all so appealing.

    And no, I am NOT a cat person. But I admire their beauty and grace - and attitude.

    ReplyDelete
  7. kenjuOctober 5, 2008 at 1:39 PM

    All are beautiful. I love the Warhol.

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  8. UnknownOctober 5, 2008 at 3:05 PM

    Warhol's cats are among my favorites too, Kenju. It was hard picking which one to feature. Sometime I'll post several.

    I like cats a lot. I don't love HAVING cats. Well...I currently don't have any but I have owned a few cats over the years. My last cats I gave away to to other homes in 2004, I think it was. Beautiful and fascinating creatures but because of where we lived then, they had to be inside cats only. That turned out to be tragic for our Timmy, who howled with despair at the French doors, longing to be outside. Poor thing.

    But the good news for the last three years of Timmy's life was that we gave him away to a friend who ran an inn with lots of land and a barn. Timmy finally had his wish fulfilled and became an outside cat. He died, our friends suspect, by eating rat poison in the barn. Hey, at least he had a very good couple of lives. He cost us over 700 bucks once when he ran away and was run over by a small pickup and survived. Ugh. He was unforgettable. Used to love to hang out on the tub ledge between the shower curtains while we showered. Drank from the tap and toilet bowl. Crazy Cat.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownOctober 5, 2008 at 3:07 PM

    Oh and I love how Delacroix painted the giant paw of the tiger.

    Delacroix, in general, is definately one of the artists whom I most revere.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousOctober 5, 2008 at 5:12 PM

    Love these! The Warhol is my favorite. Just a bit furtive looking...

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  11. DianneOctober 5, 2008 at 5:47 PM

    I like the Steinlen (I really like them all)

    the black cat could be another cat or the essense of the first cat coming thru - I like that

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  12. GretchenOctober 6, 2008 at 9:27 AM

    Beautiful paintings! Andy Warhol is an interesting character.

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  13. Ben HeineOctober 6, 2008 at 1:36 PM

    This is a gorgeous post. Very interesting to see the depiction of the same animal by famous artists. Thx Gina!

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  14. UnknownOctober 6, 2008 at 6:49 PM

    I didn't expect to receive so many responses to this new art thread. Thank you all so much!

    Peace & Love,
    Pagan

    ReplyDelete
  15. libhomOctober 6, 2008 at 10:37 PM

    I like the Warhol one best, but I tend to like art that is more expressive and less representational.

    ReplyDelete
  16. susanOctober 6, 2008 at 11:01 PM

    I like the Gwen John one because she looks just like the only cat who spent her life with us - Multi Fluffipurrious.

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  17. Steve EmeryOctober 17, 2008 at 10:13 PM

    OK - Obviously I have a lot going on with cats myself - they are all over my artwork (like our two are all over our house, them or their hair). Maybe for that reason I had stronger than usual (not so dispassionately art-critic) reactions to these.

    My first and strongest reaction was to the Warhol. I just don't get it. So many of the comments singled it out for praise and, while I can acknowledge that it captures some of the qualities of catdom well enough, it doesn't do a thing for me. I can't think of a single Warhol piece that has gotten much response from me but yawns or rolled eyes ("Oh no, not another thing repeated in four color separation - please no. Does every museum have to have one of these @#$% things?") So I'd appreciate some focus on this artist - try to persuade me that he isn't a brainy, modern trendy clever, but heartless hack. I really would like to think better of him, and I'm not getting there on my own.

    Told you the reactions were stronger than usual.

    My second reaction was to laugh out loud at the Bonnard. Repeatedly. This is an exaggeration of catliness that I've not seen done that well before. Perfectly ridiculous and so in character. And I love the contrasts in light and dark.

    My third reaction was to also love that tiger paw. I love the emotional power of Delacroix - even as I also love the line and composition of Ingres (his nearly mortal enemy).

    Thanks for the Steinlen - I've loved every very European cat image of his I've ever seen. They are almost always a lot skinnier than I like, but no one captures cat body language, the thrust or relaxation of long sinewy muscles, like Steinlen does. His dogs are excellent, also. And he carried the poster, as a form, to almost the same kind of artistic heights that Toulouse-Lautrec did.

    The John painting doesn't do much for me. Classic cat "meatloaf" position (as we call it in this house) - but the lack of color and composition lose my attention rapidly. That's when I realized this is probably just a sketch - not really meant as an artwork per se. It appears he didn't sign it - another indication that it's more likely an exercise in seeing, for the artist, rather than something we're supposed to see.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The Cunning RuntOctober 21, 2008 at 10:03 PM

    Steve, Andy himself delineated his philosophy best:

    "Art is whatever you can get away with."

    It's a point of view which seems to have served him well, though I'm not certain it served the world as it might have.

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownOctober 23, 2008 at 4:46 PM

    test

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownOctober 23, 2008 at 4:49 PM

    Deep sigh. Blogger has bugs today. :-/.

    I wrote a lengthy reply to your comment, Steve, only to get a message that blogger...well...had bugs. Three paragraphs long and at this point I have to do other things and don't have the time to attempt to retrieve it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 2:22 PM

    Quite helpful content. And furthermore I mean that

    ReplyDelete

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