Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Meowmorphosis

 

If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way. (Mark Twain)



 Luciano Rigolini, Untitled, 2008

Aubrey Beardsley, Black Cat, 1894

Paul Landacre, Sultry Day, 1930s

 Paula Rego, Nursery Rhymes, 1990s

 Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Chat au Clair de Lune, c. 1900

Walter Schnackenberg, The Sleepwalker, 1956 


Lullaby for the Cat
by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

Minnow go to sleep and dream,
Close your great big eyes:
Round your bed Events prepare
The pleasentest surprise.

Darling Minnow, drop that frown,
Just cooperate.
Not a kitten shall be drowned
In the Marxist State.

Joy and Love will both be yours,
Minnow, don’t be glum.
Happy days are coming soon –
Sleep, and let them come . . .

 Minnow

Somewhere in Moscow ... 

 Jean Bourdichon, The 'grandes Heures' of Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, 1500

Sean Landers, Ms. Kitty, 1999


Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten. His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute — but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? 




A Little Fable
by Franz Kafka

"Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into." "You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up. 

 I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume

I Am A Cat is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki, about Japanese society during the Meiji Period; particularly, the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions, and the aping of Western customs.

 Jean Gaumy

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Der Lustmörder (The Ripper), 1917

Paula Rego, The Policeman's Daughter, 1987

 Emily Carr, Zunoqua of the Cat Village, 1931

Boris Svesnikov, Lady with a cat's skull, 1956

Emile Munier 

Torsten Solin, Gustav & Paula, 2008
Martin Eder, Corners, 2009

 Paul Signac, Sunday, 1888

Jankel Adler, Cléron, the Cat Creator, 1925

Balthus, Self-portrait, 1935
"The king of cats painted by himself."

 André Derain, Self-Portrait, 1939

 Tsuguhara Fujita, Self-Portrait, 1928

Carlo Carrà, The House of Love, 1922

 Georg Schrimpf, Still Life with Cat, 1923

Abraham Teniers, Barber Shop with Cats and Apes, 1647

Peter Blake, The Owl and the Pussycat, 1983

Pentti Sammallahti, Islanti, Iceland, 1980

Masao Yamamoto, Nakazora #851, 2000

 Boris Kustodiyev, The Merchant's Wife, 1918

 Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait, 1940

 Romaine Brooks, Emile d'Erlanger, 1924

 Christian Schad, Marcella, 1926

 Rudolf Schlichter, My Wife with Cat, 1928

Piet van der Hem (1885-1961) 

 Lucian Freud, Girl with a kitten, 1947

Otto Möller, Weiß-rot-schwarze Katze, 1930

Arnošt Hofbauer, The Pilgrim, 1905

Martin Eder, Good Bye, 2008






2 comments:

  1. This Blog is very good and thorough. Very beautiful these pictures of cats. The Spanish artist Lorenzo Goñi, has some too. http://www.lorenzogoni.com/Images/FotosHD/Gatos.jpg

    ReplyDelete