happy easter, happy spring!

thanks wikimedia commons {PD:Art}

Be sure and click on this to make it bigger and easier to see, for this is The Rites of Spring by Frederick Stuart Church.  Church (1842-1942) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to a family prominent in business and politics.  After serving in the Civil War, young Church decided to break with family expectation to study art in Chicago and eventually New York City.  He became an illustrator of particular fame for his ability to anthropomorphise animals into jolly roles such as the ones you see above; I'm happy to say he was also famed for his empathy and kindness to them.  (You might gather this from the illustrations on his letters.)
Here Church shows an impossible assortment of creatures in high revel, bears, lambs, mice and little dogs together with two pretty young ladies, while one bunny blows a serenading horn. I wish each and every one of you such joy and fun to share with your furry folks today and all Spring long.

Happy Easter!

the dog that gave property to lambeth

In the south-east window of St. Mary's Church, Lambeth, there is the full-length figure of a pedlar with his pack, his staff, and dog. This is the portrait of the unknown man who gave Pedlar's Acre to the parish of Lambeth. The story of the gift is worth telling. In the year 1504 a poor pedlar, passing over a piece of waste ground near the river, sat down on a tree to rest. While seated here he noticed that his dog acted very strangely, busying himself in scratching the earth with his feet, and smelling and barking about; every now and then running up to his master and looking him earnestly in the face, and trying to drag him from his seat.
The pedlar did not at first pay much attention to the dog, but its repeated barking and running to and fro compelled him at last to see what the animal wanted. Going to where the dog had been scratching, he was surprised to find something shining below. Digging on the spot he found a large sum of money, with part of which he purchased the land known as Pedlar's Acre, but which is now called the Belvedere Road, in Lambeth.
Maitland, the historian of London . . . (adds) that the pedlar left the piece of ground to the parish on condition that his portrait and that of his dog should be perpetually preserved in painted glass in one of the windows of the church. I cannot say whether this be true or not, but such is the legend, and there is the painted window, with the portrait of the man and his dog as evidence still remaining.

-- from George Frederick Pardon, Dogs (London: J. Blackwood & Co., 1857?) pp. 237-8.  St. Mary's Church is now the Garden Museum in London.  Its collections include the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, once thought to be a cross between a vegetable and an animal.  World War II bombs blew out the original Pedlar's Window, but there is a replica in its place, and no photos easily to be found! But you can get an idea of it at this blog.

chris haberman: the art of pets

by kindest permission of the artist

Jill is a human. Audrey is a Cairn terrier.  Both are my friends, and they took me on a lovely long walk on my most recent Portland visit.  They thought I would really appreciate Audrey's favorite shop, Meat for Cats and Dogs, so we stopped by.  And that's how I found Chris Haberman.
Chris has a selection of pet portraits up at Meat - you can see some up above.  I thought they were knowing and fun.  Every different pet brings its own different joy, and I got that from Chris' work.  So I dropped him a line, and now here's some of what I know:

Chris Haberman is a working painter, writer, muralist, curator and musician, native to Portland, Oregon. Aside from painting, he has published poetry, journalism and fiction; being awarded the Tom Doulis Fiction award, the Wilma Morrison award for excellence in journalism from Portland State University and is a lifetime member to the Academy of American Poets.
 All of Chris Haberman's artwork is created recycled objects, found material from the streets and alleyways of his hometown. A discarded cabinet door or table top quickly becomes the backdrop for an integrated puzzle-poem of figures and text, focusing on subjects like people, politics, the region, pop-culture, media, music, film and literature. 

That is not it by a long shot.  Probably I should just send you to his Facebook page to begin encompassing it all.  Drop by The Pet Museum's FB page and look for a video of Chris working; here's another one from YouTube.  On the particular pet front, he has a 3-year-old Pom (named Kona), and he's offering to do portraits of people's pets at Meat during the next 2 months...16x16, $50. Audrey should get her portrait done!

a best friend, a force of nature

thanks wikimedia commons {PD old}

During his career the Ukrainian-Russian painter Ilya Repin (1844-1930) portrayed his fellow human beings with realism and insight.  Here, in Man's Best Friend (1908) he's brought his realism to this rough study of a dog on the shore.  This shaggy big fellow fills the canvas with calm power, as does the tide that laps toward his feet.  Both are mighty forces of nature in their own way.  Don't you love that sea, by the way?  It's got a pink cast to it that says dawn or dusk, can't tell which, but beautiful all the same.

the cat and the frog: warmth

From a book of improving tales for children, dated 1874:

I HAVE an instance of a still stranger friendship to mention. The servants of a country-house—and I am sure that they were kind people—had enticed a frog from its hole by giving it food. As winter drew on, Froggy every evening made its way to the kitchen hearth before a blazing fire, which it found much more comfortable than its own dark abode out in the yard. Another occupant of the hearth was a favourite old cat, which at first, I daresay, looked down on the odd little creature with some contempt, but was too well bred to disturb an invited guest. At length, however, the two came to a mutual understanding; the kind heart of Pussy warming towards poor chilly little Froggy, whom she now invited to come and nestle under her cozy fur. From that time forward, as soon as Froggy came out of its hole, it hopped fearlessly towards the old cat, who constituted herself its protector, and would allow no one to disturb it.
Imitate the kind cat, and be kind to the most humble, however odd their looks. Sometimes at school and elsewhere you may find some friendless little fellow. Prove his protector. Be not less benevolent than a cat.

I wish I could have stuck in the illustration.  It's Froggy and Kitty gazing at each other, with Froggy placing a webbed foot affectionately upon his furry friend.  From William Henry Giles Kingston, Stories of Animal Sagacity (T. Nelson and Sons, 1874), pp. 25-26.

the cats of agios neofytos

In Tala, Cyprus, the Monastery of Agios Neofytos found itself with a good many kitties and not enough hands.  Thus was born the Agios Neofytos Monastery Cat Park, where "Everyone is welcome to come along and visit the cats and maybe bring along any spare food to give them a treat, all donations are always appreciated especially in the winter months."  And they are always looking for volunteers to sign up for regular feedings.  Have a look at this beautiful photo gallery and tell me whether that wouldn't be good for the heart and the soul!

my favorite bremen town musicians

thanks wikimedia commons
(public domain, azerbaijan republic)

“I’ll tell you what,” said the donkey, “I am going to Bremen to be Town Musician; come with me and take to music too. I will play the lute, and you shall beat the drum.”

That's part of the story of The Bremen Town Musicians, in which four animals decide not to accept their certain (and deadly) fates at home, instead striking out for a musical life on the road.  This likable take on the tale, featuring what honestly are my fave two (a donkey! a cat! so freaking Dada!), is a 1997 postage stamp from Azerbaijan.  I love its scrappy, brave feel.  Been a while since you've read the story?  Here it is.

dog study by sargent

thanks wikipaintings.org (public domain)

Sometime around 1925 John Singer Sargent dashed off this watercolor sketch of a woman and collie. Looks like he found the collie much more interesting.
I love how that pink tongue looks perfectly mid-pant, and how it plays off the pink ranges in the lady's hat.  Put your thumb over the collie's tongue and you'll see how lopsided the picture gets without it.

vintage photo time: a dog looks up (to you)

thanks ampersand

And the dog is still the faithful,

Still the loving friend of man,

Ever ready at his bidding,

Doing for him all he can.

--Mary Howitt (1804-1888)

little-known literary pets

From the chapter on "Pets in Literary Life," from the 1892 book by Eleanor Lewis,  Famous Pets of Famous People . . . 

The pets and authors of the past may be briefly glanced at on our way to those of to-day. We may begin with the learned Justus Lipsius, erstwhile professor at Louvain. This worthy went daily to his lecture-room with a retinue of dogs, whose portraits, each with a commemorative description, adorned the walls of his study. Three have been individualized for posterity as Mopsikins, Mopsy and Sapphire.

Tarot, Franza, Balassa, Ciccone, Musa, Mademoiselle and Monsieur, were, in their long-vanished life-time, companions to Agrippa, the astrologer and scholar. The knowing little Monsieur was permitted, as special favorite, to sleep upon his master's bed, eat from his plate, and lie upon the table beside his papers, while he wrote. He may even have suggested to Goethe the black poodle in Faust, since, like Rupert's hound Boy, and Claver's battle-horse, he was commonly supposed to be a fiend.

Justus Lipsius was a Belgian humanist and intellectual.

Agrippa was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, who was also a solider and physician, and in 1529 wrote the Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex.  Apparently Monsieur very likely was the inspiration for part of Goethe's Mephistopheles.

Rupert was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and Boye was his badass poodle. Really.

Claver seems to be John Graham of Claverhouse.

 

spring dawns for a kitten (and us)

thanks wikimedia commons {{PD:US}}

As of yesterday it's officially spring! Hooray.
And to celebrate, here's a kitten greeting the sun, dated 1884 by "Chip."  I can't find the source of the picture (it's from a collection rescued from various vintage sources), but I love its jaunty simplicity.

another japanese tale: a dog saves a samurai's family

. . .We read that "a good dog has communication with the gods and changes into a dragon."  A white dog was found outside a certain house, bringing forth young. The inmates of the house, near which the animal was lying, took it inside and treated it with care.
One night a man in a white garment appeared in a dream to the mistress of the house and said: “Within a few days there will be a landslip, and this neighbourhood will certainly become a muddy pool. You must flee away quickly; I tell you this because you have treated me so well.” The next morning at daybreak the woman's husband, a samurai, came hastily home from the yashiki (estate - Curator) of his Lord, where he had been on service, and sought the dog. When his wife asked him the reason why he did so, he answered: “Although this dog never came to the yashiki before, last night he came and barked continually. When I went outside he pulled me by the skirt of my clothes as if he would say: ‘Go out of the house.’ Therefore was I in such a hurry."
Then the woman told him her dream, and they went away together. This happened on the 22nd of the 12th month of 1699, and on the next day the mountain tumbled down into the Asano river, crushing 85 houses and killing more than thirty persons.
The place actually became a muddy pool, as the dog had foretold.

-- From The dog and the cat in Japanese superstition, Marinus Willem de Visser (Yokohama, Japan: Fukuin Printing Co Ltd., 1909) pps. 33-34

a cat finds autumn shelter

thanks wikimedia commons {{PD-US}} and {{PD-Art (PD-Old)}}

Somewhere during the Joseon Dynasty around 1730, and probably sometime around the fall, the Korean painter Byeon Sang-byeok captured this "Autumn Cat in a Garden with Chrysanthemum." His portrayals of cats and chickens, it's said, were so particularly fine and popular that he was nicknamed "Byeon Cat" and "Byeon Rooster."  We don't know his precise life dates, but we do know that. And if this thoughtful, alert-whiskered fellow is any indication, we can bet that Byeon liked and understood cats well.

walter savage landor reasons with a spaniel

The English poet and writer Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) was by all accounts a man of robust, quick, even hot-headed feelings and actions.  Yet at the same time he was known for his kindness and sensitivity, even -  as the short verse below proves - to a little dog missing her person.

To a Spaniel

No, Daisy! lift not up thine ear,
It is not she whose steps draw near.

Tuck under thee that leg, for she 

Continues yet beyond the sea, 

And thou mayst whimper in thy sleep 

These many days, and start and weep.

- from Praise of the Dog: an anthology, Ethel Bicknell, compiler (E.P. Dutton, Publishers, 1902) p. 144.

vintage photo time: sunday best

gift from tara m!

I have no idea if this was really taken on a Sunday or not, but it sure looks like. Happy Sunday (and St. Patrick's Day), everyone.

miroslav's dog and miroslav

thanks wikimedia commons {PD:US}

When he painted his "Self-Portrait with Dog" in 1910, the Croatian artist Miroslav Kraljevic might already have known his days were numbered.  He died in 1913 of tuberculosis, only 27 years old, but in his short span he established himself as one of the prime forces behind modern art in Croatia.  Kraljevic created prints and sculpture as well as paintings, and studied in Munich and Paris during 1910-11 - dynamic years for the Symbolism and Jugendstil art movements.
He's noted for his intensity and his deft handling of light and dark spatial relationships, both of which are shown to sterling example in this self-portrait.  I was attracted to the way Kraljevic had framed his dog so neatly against his dark suit, an inescapable part of himself, even to the shades of brown they share in their hair and eyes.  I wish I knew the dog's name, but I can't turn it up anywhere.

cat & mouse street style

photographer: mckay savage.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

The coolest cat and mouse duo ever, found as street art in the Miraflores area of Lima, Peru.

a japanese folk tale: the boy who drew cats

. . .The boy learned quickly what the old priest taught him, and was very obedient in most things. But he had one fault. He liked to draw cats during study-hours, and to draw cats even where cats ought not to have been drawn at all. Whenever he found himself alone, he drew cats. He drew them on the margins of the priest's books, and on all the screens of the temple, and on the walls, and on the pillars. Several times the priest told him this was not right; but he did not stop drawing cats. He drew them because he could not really help it. . .

A little boy grows up among his farming family.  He is very smart, but he is thoughtful rather than strong, and not robust.  His family loves him, but they think perhaps he would do better as a priest, so they take him to a temple to learn that life.  As the above snippet indicates, though, the little boy is above all else an artist.  What he loves more than anything else is to draw cats.  Does this work for the temple? No.  Does this work for the boy?  Eventually, yes, it does, and he becomes a hero of sorts.

"The Boy Who Drew Cats" is a Japanese folktale translated by the cultural writer Lafcadio Hearn in 1898. To read the whole story and learn how the cats came through for their creator, visit this pretty page.

wordless wednesday

ahem

scratch, sniff, wag

kindest permission and copyright of lou lomibao

Lou Lomibao of Orange County CA had already spent a few years as a professional photographer when a dog came along and changed her view of things.  You know how that happens.  Here's how it happened for Lou:

Ever since my mini dapple dachshund Scratch came into my life my love of dogs led me to start photographing them with their families. I had always been a crafter at heart and came up with an idea to sell art pieces on Etsy where I hand cut dog silhouettes from vintage book pages. It was fun to find great pieces and make something families can cherish for many years. On the side I worked at a local humane society, volunteer at a dachshund rescue and organized an "OC Doxie" meetup group that has almost 600 members... it's all about the dogs!

From Lou's Etsy shop, scratchandsniff, here's the silhouette of a Portuguese Water Dog cut from a map of the Pacific Ocean.  I also rather like this cupcake corgi.  And wait till you see her photography at Scratch and Sniff Photo.  This gallery features some of her work with dogs and their people.  You'll see Lou's gift for helping people say "I love my dog" with a true feel for that particular love, rather than "person holds dog, say cheese, click."

vintage photo time

thanks ampersand

"August 1972 Walnut Creek"

nekomata, the cat with supernatural power

thanks wikimedia commons {{PD-Japan-oldphoto}}

Is that a cat playing the samisen?  Yes- but not just any cat. This graceful performer is a nekomata, a "forked-cat."  This is a Japanese bakeneko cat-demon that has lived so long, its tail has split in two and its powers of necromancy have increased.  Since the standard bakeneko had quite the laundry list of abilities anyway, including flying, talking, and animating the dead, imagine how much you would not want to make one mad.
This image is a special variant on the nekomata myth in a book of "One Hundred Weird Tales," ("Hyakki-Zukan") by Sawagi Suuhi.  In this list of strange supernatural beings, Suuhi chose to show the demon as an accomplished, perhaps even melancholy woman playing the samisen, an instrument made with catskin.  The skin of a relative or friend?  There's more about this creature at this fine blog.
Meanwhile my own cat-demons call me to service them and you know I can't ignore that summons!
Happy Sunday morning, everyone.

a blenheim spaniel

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:100)

That's all the title says: "A Blenheim Spaniel," by British artist William Webb, circa 1825.  I thought I knew about a great many sorts of spaniel, but that threw me.  Here's the answer from the AKC: "Blenheim" is a color variety of the King Charles spaniel - chestnut and white. The other coat colors are Tricolor (black, white, and tan), Ruby (solid red) and Black and Tan.  So why does the admittedly snappy combo of chestnut/white get a special name?  Because it was the favorite of the 19th c. Duke of Marlborough, who lived in Blenheim Palace. (Wikipedia to the rescue.)

converted kittens, in a comic poem

From the source of the Jerome K. Jerome dog essay I posted a couple days back, here's a poem that reminds me of a Lake Woebegon joke I heard once.  Have your kittens seen the light?

* * *

LITTLE TURNCOATS.
Georgia A. Peck.

As passed the rector of All Saints' one day,
Obsequiously an old man crossed his way,
And with "Good-mornin', sir!" his head laid bare;
Then, steadying his basket with all care,
He turned its cover back to show within
Three sleeping kittens, saying, with a grin,
"I have some fine Episcopal kittens here
That you might like to buy,—they won't come dear."

"Look here, old man!" called out a passer-by,
"I see what you're about, with half an eye!
You tried to sell that lot to me last night
As good, clean, Baptist kittens." -- 

"You are right,
My friend, and they were Baptist then, all three,
But 'twas before their eyes were opened! See?"

-- Cats and Kittens (Readings and Recitations No. 35), Edgar S. Werner, ed. (New York : Edgar S. Werner & Company, c1906), p. 205.

pouting with a cat: the only way

thanks wikimedia.org (PD)

Here's realist painter Ivan Kramskoy (Russian; 1837-1887), portraying a "Girl with a Cat" in 1882.  I must say, when I want to have a good pout I do appreciate a cat and a luxurious setting.  This work is so technically perfect that I still find myself surprised at how it manages to pull me in at a strong personal level as well.  Is she really in a funk?  She certainly looks like it. Is she well-off and that's why she has all those gorgeous shawls?  Is this a formal studio portrait? No, can't be; too intimate.  You can't get a cat to go to sleep like that simply for the composition of the thing.
Kramskoy was a leader of the Russian democratic art movement, and known for the emotional insight he could evoke in his portrayals, particularly those of peasant folk.

jerome k. jerome on dogs

Jerome K. Jerome, a British writer and humorist best known for the travelogue Three Men in a Boat, contributed to a 1919 collection titled Cats and Kittens.  Though his essay was titled "Cats and Dogs," it ends up on the subject of dogs and how their love and devotion are clear proof of stupidity.  By which, of course, he meant - well, you'll get it from the ending section I've excerpted below.

* * * 

. . .He is very imprudent, a dog is. . .Come luck or misfortune, good repute or bad, honor or shame, he is going to stick to you, to comfort you, guard you, and give his life for you, if need be — foolish, brainless, soulless dog!  Ah! old staunch friend, with your deep, clear eyes, and bright, quick glances, that take in all one has to say before one has time to speak it, do you know you are only an animal, and have no mind?. . .
Do you know that every little-minded, selfish scoundrel, who lives by cheating and tricking, who never did a gentle deed, or said a kind word, who never had a thought that was not mean and low, or a desire that was not base, whose every action is a fraud, whose every utterance is a lie; do you know they are all as much superior to you as the sun is superior to rush-light, you honorable, brave-hearted, unselfish brute?
They are men, you know, and men are the greatest, noblest, and wisest, and best Beings in the whole vast eternal Universe. Any man will tell you that. Yes, poor doggie, you are very stupid, very stupid indeed, compared with us clever men, who understand all about politics and philosophy, and who know everything in short, except what we are, and where we came from, and whither we are going, and what everything outside this tiny world and most things in it are.

 

--- Jerome K. Jerome, in Cats and Kittens (Readings and Recitations No. 35), Edgar S. Werner, ed. (New York : Edgar S. Werner & Company, c1906), pp. 46-48.

landseer's "brazilian marmosets"

thanks wikipaintings.org (PD)

I was so fortunate as to see a number of fine Sir Edwin Landseer paintings yesterday at Seattle Art Museum (they were part of the Treasures of Kenwood House show).  This one was not among them; it's part of the Royal collection at Buckingham Palace.  I wish it had been as this is not the greatest reproduction and I'd love to see how marvelous those little monkeys look close up.  These must have been someone's unusual pets, their special and tropical status pointed up by the luscious pineapple upon which they are parked.  (Pineapples were available when this painting was created in 1842, but certainly not as convenient to get as now.  Here's a neat article about pineapples in Georgian Britain, just because I found it.)  These two are scoping out a bug on the pineapple's crown - see it?

extra vintage photo time: cat cuddling

thanks ampersand

Today there's a birthday in the family, so I'm off to celebrate.  But you get something too:  a recent find, one of my new favorites.
Kid, what was your kitty's name?  And how old are you now, and where are you, and did you stay this sweet?  I hope you did.

a missionary dog

This is a tale by Harrison Weir of a dog embarking on good works.  It's from a very pretty children's book called My Pet's Album, one of those late 19th-century improving works of literature for young minds and souls.  Apparently there really were reports of a white bull terrier named Jowler in Cheshire, England that collected for the Missionary Society.  This fits, I think, with the particular flavor of evangelic fervor at the time: involved in walking the walk as well as talking the talk (or barking the bark, I suppose).
* * *
THIS is . . . Jowler, a clever dog, who used to collect subscriptions for foreign missions in a little village in Cheshire. At a missionary meeting held there, it was stated by one of the speakers that he had collected more than thirty-three shillings. This seems very funny, and some persons would scarcely believe it; but I will tell you how he went to work. He had a small basket given him which he carried in his mouth, and every one in the village knew his peculiar knock and bark. As soon as the door was opened, Jowler would bark, and wag his tail, and there he would remain till some money was put in his basket. Many people thus subscribed to the missions, who would perhaps in no other way have been induced to do so. Surely Jowler was one of the "Try" company, and a good example to many who never think of doing any good at all in the world. If Jowler, with his missionary basket, were to stand by the side of some of the lazy boys and girls I have known, I think they would be ashamed of their indolence.

Harrison Weir, "Jowler, the Missionary Dog," in My Pet's Album (London: S.W. Partridge and Company, 1872), p. 158.

vintage photo time

from a shop in tacoma

Say cheese!