Have you seen the popular hashtag #catsofinstagram? Before viral video snippets, we had drawings and paintings. Cats delighted people in artwork, just as they do now in TikTok videos. For this blog post, I looked at how artists have depicted cats in art throughout the years.
Here are some of my favorites:
Pierre Bonnard painted this humorous elongated cat sometime before 1923.
Pierre Bonnard
Pablo Picasso depicted this less cuddly type of cat around 1939:
Pablo Picasso
Henriette Ronner-Knip captured this Cat at Play perfectly in the mid-1800s. I highly doubt the cat held still while she sketched, though:
Henriette Ronner-Knip
Arthur Rakham illustrated this interesting cat for a Brothers Grimm book. I would not stare too long:
Arthur Rakham
Endre Penovác makes these fabulous ink artworks, and is the first artist I thought of when I considered writing this article:
Endre Penovác
I've admired the contemporary artwork of Lisa Krannishfield for a while now. She uses what appears to be watercolor and collaged patterns to depict women in power postures. Occasionally, a cat with attitude makes it into the frame:
Lisa Krannishfield
And below is a cat portrait I painted for a friend. I'm only adding it because I don't want to be left out!
"Claudia's Kitten," acrylic ink on yupo. Kasey Wanford
Although I am more of a dog person now, I do like cats. Being allergic, I try to keep my distance when I see them. I choose to believe that most cats respect my aloofness and mirror it. Every once in a while, one comes along who will not comply. Basically, cats do what they want.
"I told her I was allergic, but she didn't care" - Kasey
I hope you enjoyed this catty-jaunt with me!
Random sources:
https://www.hepper.com/famous-cat-paintings/
https://www.pablopicasso.net
https://www.instagram.com
Wikipedia