Thursday, September 21, 2023

Cats in Art, part 1

 

I have another entry for Elle from Empire of the Cat, our host this month at Art Journal Journey Her theme is Books, Cats, and Tea. I am once again focusing on cats, because I have created this in my Cats altered book.

I have been working on this for five days and I only have it half finished.  This is Cats in Art and because I have eight more, this is part 1.  Don't worry.  I will show each individually.  But first, look at all those cats and human faces.  That means I will also be joining Nicole and her Friday Face Off later tonight.

This is a painting by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, best known as a philosopher, specifically a political philosopher.  He is lesser known for his paintings.

This is a famous poster created by Theophile Steinlen, a French artist well known for his cat paintings, sculptures, and posters.

This is another Steinlen poster, this time with a cat, a mother, and a daughter enjoying hot chocolate.  We could always pretend it is tea, which goes nicely with Elle's theme.

This painting of a girl with her kitten by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau was created with pastels.  He was famous for his portraits.

Even if you haven't heard of several of the previous artists, I suspect you are quite familiar with Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Although he was a leading member of the original Impressionists, by the 1880s, he started creating more realistic paintings, especially portraits. 

This painting is by Charles Camoin, who was a French expressionist painter.  He  was influenced by many artists, but Renoir had a great deal of influence on his art.
 
If you live in the states, you have probably heard of Currier & Ives, a New York based firm whose lithographs were among the most popular wall hangings in the 19th century.  
 
This poster was created for Harper's monthly magazine by Edward Penfield, who used many cats in his poster art.  Penfield was an illustrator and was considered the father of the American poster.  Penfield was hired at Harper's even before he finished his art studies.  He became their primary illustrator and head of Harper's art department until Harper's declared bankruptcy in 1899.

I did a great deal of measuring and cutting, keeping the stickers in the center of each piece.  Imagine my horror when I started putting the images on the two page spread and they were too large.  All that work for naught.  Although they overlap, I found a way to fit them all on this spread.

Bleubeard and I are delighted you joined us today and hope to see you at Art Journal Journey as you share your own interpretation of Books, Cats, and Tea.  We also hope to see you at Friday Face Off with a face, any face.

20 thoughtful remarks:

Elephant's Child said...

Just lovely. Some are familiar to me, and others new. Thank you.

jinxxxygirl said...

The Chat Noir image was also on the wine bottle of what we had at our wedding reception.. while stationed in Germany back in 1989. Love all the images Elizabeth.Hugs! deb

Mae Travels said...

What a great collection of art work! I’m a big fan of some of those poster artists, and I think they were very creative.

best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Rita said...

Lovely! Being a cat person, like you, I love seeing cats in art. :)

Tom said...

...the Theophile Steinlen poster is a classic.

Christine said...

Nice work!

Jeanie said...

These are wonderful. I love both the Steinlens.

Iris Flavia said...

The first man is in a "Servant in the prison inn"? What kind of a book is that from?
The black cat found out what love and happiness is, how nice is that!
The family of three sadly had to live under police supervision and the girl with the sweet ktty loves church?
I hope the woman and her cat could escape the German Reich members! (Those still do exist, how scary is that, huh?).
Hunger, Russia and Bolsheviks... could be a story from today after all...
Glad love does not drive with wantonness and it seems Harper´s May has a not so nice stepmother, poor girl that. At least she has two cats!

I like the overlapping!

Valerie-Jael said...

Lovely, arty cats and I like the German print in the background. Glad you got it together in the end! Hugs, Valerie

Sandra Cox said...

I had a book of stickers like that with famous cat paintings. I loved them.

CJ Kennedy said...

Fun. My favorite is Le Chat Noire

My name is Erika. said...

Fun idea and nice spread. You have some great cats in art, and I'm surious about part 2. I hope you had a great day. hugs-Erika

Gillena Cox said...

Great idea. Bravo!!!!
Much🖤love

DVArtist said...

A precious kitty for sure. I love all ofyour Cat are. FFO is up. I lost my way with time. Thank you for joining in.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I never knew that JJ Rousseau also painted! You have educated me today, thanks!

Iris Flavia said...

I just found your comment on my blog and as I know we´re all lazy ;-)...
This is what I answered on it:

"Nooooo!!!! Elizabeth!!! Why do you think I´m offended???
It was interesting!!! Boy oh, boy, you did NOT offend me, what even makes you think this???"

Really, it was interesting to read the bits and pieces, I just would´ve liked to learn more!
It seems to be a book about someone who was able to escape the darn Na#is.

I am that old I learned to read these letters. Bet to my Nieces this is a mystery.
You did NOT offend me.

I am sorry if you met Germans who are like that.
My parents were (very) little children when Hit#er happened, my Mom not even German.
I would have no idea to find a book here written with these, actually you have a real treasure you turned into something even better :-)
(Just... I would´ve been happy to read the story first!)

All good! :-)

Empire of the Cat said...

I love all your cats in art and look forward to part two. It's interesting how many artists were inspired to paint them. The Chat Noir is probably the most iconic and recognisable and a long time favourite of mine. Thanks for joining me for the Books, Cats & Tea September theme at Art Journal Journey this month. Happy Journalling! Elle xx

Gene Black said...

The overlapping looks so purposeful that we wouldn't know that it wasn't the original plan if you hadn't told us. (grin)

Divers and Sundry said...

So many fine art pieces include cats. Cool! I love how you did these.

Sylvia/LittleTreasures said...

i HAD TO VISIT This part. Amazing art. I really love the paper you used to mount these. Such a fun project. So happy I found your post. Take care enjoy a great FALL .