z is for zombi

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

Four years ago here at the Museum I told the story of the English poet Robert Southey and how a certain black cat came to live in his house.  That cat - named "The Zombi" - is the star of this woodcut by Philadelphia artist Martha Knox.  (You can buy it here at her Etsy shop.)  I bet this is exactly what The Zombi looked liked, too, when he got to his new house:  a little scared, a lot indignant, and ready to raise some hell.
Knox is the proprietor of Words on Woodcuts Press, an art educator, and wood block printmaker whose work has been exhibited regularly at the Delaware Museum of Art and a number of other locations.  She has a beautiful alphabet gift book out this year, "Cats A-Z," which is where you'll find our fellow above and a number of other well-lettered felines (such as J for Jeoffry).  You can get the book here at Words On Woodcuts.

Happy Halloween, Museum friends!

book review: welcome home, bernard socks

(I was provided an advance copy for purposes of this review.)

Fester Cat, the one-and-a-half fanged feline spirit of a certain garden in Manchester, is back.  This time he's watching and narrating as his humans open their sore hearts to a cat with built-in hosiery and a party tooter for a voice.  This can only mean one thing: it's time to say, along with author Paul Magrs, "Welcome Home, Bernard Socks" (£9.99, Obverse Books, publication date December 5, 2015).
As the book opens, Fester Cat draws us back to Paul and Jeremy's.  He may not be on our physical plane, but he makes it clear he's perfectly fine and wiser than ever.  With love and the occasional impatience he watches his humans as they grieve, but then the call of kitty companionship draws them to a charmingly wacky rescue called Tharg.  There they find a long-legged, big-whiskered tuxedo cat called Sox.  Are they being disloyal to Fester's memory?  Is it too soon to love another cat?  What if something goes wrong?  What is that noise he's making?
Fester continues the tale of the newly christened Bernard Socks as the new guy settles in, including a very funny bit on how he finds baby frogs (stretchy and delicious), and a lyrical midsummer's night interlude of garden scents and cat spirits.
Then the family home suffers a dysfunction of frankly gargantuan proportions.  Will our three boys, damp, grubby and disenchanted, come through as one unit? You'll have to go on your own journey to Fester Cat's street to find out, but bring your party tooter.  Weeeee-ooooo!

(Quick edit: You can pre-order the book here.)

matte stephens and "dinner with maurice"

copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

We've seen New Hampshire artist Matte Stephens before at the Museum (and we loved it! Look here).  I had to bring him back after seeing the above piece, "Dinner with Maurice."  This image is a snapshot of some of my favorite things about Fall.  The dramatic evenings and cooler temperatures are just the thing for dressing up and having a proper night out with your friends, a bottle or two, and candlelight.  I remarked last time on the mid-20th century flavor of Matte's art; while I confess that I usually don't instinctively gravitate to mid-century, I really like the updated colors and cheerful ideas that Matte brings to his work.  You should gravitate to his Etsy shop.

the cat art sale of the gods! and i can't go.

Somewhere in NYC, this is happening....
Four Centuries of Cat Art Go Up for Auction

vintage wordless wednesday

rex and ace, 1941. i own this. thanks, seattle antique co

happy black cat day

thanks wikiart (PD)

Theophile Steinlen, "Cat in the Moonlight," c. 1900.
It's National Black Cat Day over in the UK.  Don't leave a lovely sable kitty out in the cold!  Black cats are very often quite mellow in temperament and delightfully relaxing company.  I know this personally - our Ronnie is by FAR less trouble than her white and tabby sisters.
Some black cat posts from back in the Museum day:
When is a black cat red?
Ian Anderson did a song about his old black cat.
A lovely indoor scene from Konstantin Korovin
G.R. Tomson's poem for a black cat

holding hands

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1966. www.metmuseum.org. OASC

New York, circa 1844:  you've got a toddler to paint.  Good luck.  You can't keep her still, so how can you even keep her interest?  Throw in another toddler, of a different species.  Sketch fast.
The result?  This oil on canvas of young Emma Homan by the English-American portraitist John Bradley (active 1832-47, life dates unknown).  Being posed next to a potted rose is cute enough, but to throw a kitten in the bush and have it holding paws - genius.  Cat-hance below.

Now here's something interesting:  this little girl grew up to be the botanical artist and writer Emma Homan Thayer.  How did that get started?  You can't help but wonder if it had anything to do with some pleasant hours being the center of attention with a kitty and a flowerbush.

oops, wordless vintage thursday

thanks seattle antiques co, i own this

a flask-dog, ancient greece

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, museum accession. www.metmuseum.org. OASC

This terracotta dog has been making this sassy face since the 2nd - 1st century BC, and for a good reason: he's an askos, a Greek flask for pouring small amounts (think an oil cruet, or soy sauce).  You can learn more about him here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Meanwhile, I'll sit here and envy anyone who had such a great little mutt pot.

"the little dog," a poem from 1850

thanks karenswhimsy (PD)

Here's a bit of doggerel (bwah, hah) that I plan to include in the next Pet Museum book. . .

THE LITTLE DOG.
I like to see a little dog,
And pat him on his head,
So prettily he wags his tail,
Whenever he is fed.

Some little dogs are very good,
And very useful too,
And do you know that they will mind,
What they are bid to do?

Then I will never beat my dog,
And never give him pain,  (oh good, that's nice - curator)
Poor fellow! I will give him food,
And he'll love me again.

(1850). My little hymn book. 4th ed. Boston: T.R. Marvin. 12-13

lynne farren: the right kind of tiger rug!

i took this

Local Tacoma artist Lynne Farren works in multimedia and cats.  I wish she had a website (here is a YouTube clip about her).  This is her take on Tibet's tiger rugs (a textile, not a pelt; here's a webpage from an online shop where you can see and learn about these) - one of a series of four.

heart full of hedgehogs

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

"I love any kind of painting, but I've got a soft spot for watercolors," says artist Annette Jones of Manchester, England. This original watercolor, "Hedgehog Heart," makes a wonderful piece for Erinaceus europaeus (European hedgehog) fans. The already tidy teardrop shape of the critter makes for a lovely assemblage into a heart-shaped puzzle, while still keeping a sense of the inquisitive nature of the beast.  "My work is mostly inspired by nature," Annette wrote me recently.  "I like to paint things with life and personality, and to bring out the individual characters in my subjects."  You can see more of Annette's happy, bright work at her Etsy shop, AnnetteJonesArt.

national feral cat day - october 16

thanks wikimedia commons.
lazy cat by palmer cox. PD

October 16 is National Feral Cat Day here in the US.  The link will take you to the Alley Cat Allies-sponsored site, where you can learn about activities and information to help our little homeless fellow beings.  If only foodstuff walked up to them and swung off their tails, as in the charming early 1900's illustration above.
Though the public drive to help ferals has been much more in evidence in recent years, there have always been those who feel for them.  The following two poems from Isabel Valle's 1916 book don't shy away from a homeless kitty's frequent fate.

TOMMY
A Stray Cat
Nevermore need Tommy roam
Looking, longing for a home;
What he wanted he has found
In the doorless underground!

POOR ITTY BITTY
A Stray Pussy
She died of cold and hunger in the snow
Where these forget-me-nots and bluebells grow;
I never pass them now but I see her
For whom was life all "miaou" without a purr.—
The summer day becomes a winter night,
The lawn's green velvet changes and grows white
And black upon it, like a blot, there lies
A tiny sodden heap with open eyes.

-- Yes, I know - bitterly sad.  So imagine being tiny and hungry with nowhere to go.  Perhaps you can do something easy to help, like make a winter house out of your old cooler.  Here's a video how - they say it takes 5 minutes!


Valle, I. (1916). Epitaphs of some dear dumb beasts. Boston [Mass.]: The Gorham Press. 36-37.

cat and dog pastimes from past times

vintage PD

From an 1892 book of English folk verses and games. . .

"Leg over leg as the dog went to Dover,
When he came to the style, jump he went over." . . .
This is said when placing the right foot and left foot of a child over and under, by turns. In Gloucestershire, seventy years ago, they said fox instead of "dog," and pop for "jump."

"Fie for shame, a dog in a lane,
If I was your mother, I'd give you the cane."
Said by youngsters to a child whose indelicate conduct can only be compared to that of "a dog in a lane."

"It's time, I believe,
For us to get leave:
This little dog says,
It isn't, it is; it isn't, it is, etc."
Said by a schoolboy, who places his book between his knees. His two forefingers are then placed side by side, and the breadth of each is measured alternately along the length of the book. The time to get leave (to be dismissed) is supposed to have arrived or not, according as one finger or the other fills up the last space.

Three cats sat by the fireside,
In a basket full of coal dust;
One cat said to the other
In fun, Pell-mell, Queen Anne's dead!
"Is she," said Grimalkin, " then I'll reign Queen in her stead,"
Then up, up, up, they flew up the chimney. (No one seems to know what this is all about - curator)

"A cat may look at a king,
And surely I may look at an ugly thing."
Said in derision by one child to another, who complains of being stared at.

-- Northall, G. F.. (1892). English folk-rhymes: a collection of traditional verses relating to places and persons, customs, superstitions, etc. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. Passim.

a dog's pipe dream

thanks wikimedia commons user brbbl.  CC BY-SA 3.0

In Frederick Hendrikplantsoen, a park in the west side of Amsterdam, this stalwart dog-creature stands:  Dutch sculptor Cephas Stauthamer's 1965 Droombeeld ("Pipe Dream").  Stauthamer (1899-1983) worked in both naturalistic and abstract styles, as you can see in this webpage on his "Humans and Animals in Stone and Bronze."

theatre luck, courtesy of a black cat and a pug

In her autobiography, the English actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell (Beatrice Stella Tanner) tells how a dreamed black kitten and her her pug's open sympathy helped her confidence.  She was portraying the challenging role of "Paula" in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, and in great need of self-assurance after a subpar rehearsal:

. . . When I went back to my rooms in Devonshire Street I slipped into bed in misery, knowing that everyone was disappointed in me,. . .Towards morning I fell asleep and had a childish dream. There was a door opposite my bed, and I dreamed it was pushed slowly open, and, up near the top, a little black kitten put in its head. I awoke laughing, and when my two children came into my bed, I told them about my lucky dream. And, indeed, if a black cat walking across the stage, entirely ruining a scene, can be regarded by all actors as a most lucky event, how much more should a black kitten poking its head high up through a door in a dream on the morning of a "first night" augur success.
One other sign of good fortune had also come to me from my pet dog. I had a pug at the time called "She," a devoted creature. One day—while I was studying the part of the play, where "Paula" bursts into a fit of weeping, I could get neither shape nor form into my sobbing. . . After much striving I thought of "breaking up" the sounds by a natural blowing of my nose. This so affected poor "She" that she howled and howled, and I could not stop her for quite a long time—I felt perhaps I might move a human audience. Then came the first night. I put my children to bed, leaving them in the care of the landlady. They had covered me with their hugs and kisses and wishes for success, and remembering the black kitten and the pug's tribute, I went down to the theatre with "She" in my arms, and my nerves strung up with that glorious sense of a battle to fight.

-- Campbell, P. (1922). My life and some letters. New York: Dodd, Mead. 93-94.

two blue bunnies

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist, ande hall

I do enjoy a lovely pastel work.  Mix in a couple of fat bunnies and my favorite complementary colors of orange and blue, and - well, you've made my Friday.  Kansas artist Ande Hall has a feel for pastels that mixes bright, delightful color with excellent form and control.  The results are not only rich in pigment and feel, but fun, as you can see when you skim through her gallery.  (Did you see the scarlet tanager, or the warbler on the nest, or any of those excellent chickens?)  This particular work grabbed me because the treatment of the lines mixed with that deep color reminded me of what I liked best about Fauvism (Matisse, for example).
Hall was a full-time veterinarian for 25 years, and still keeps her hand in part-time.   She also continues to serve animals through her Etsy shop - where 5% of her proceeds are donated to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature- the world's oldest and largest wildlife conservation organization).

for national poetry day (uk) - my favorite pet poem

a rerun. caspar von reth, Hundeportrat, 1893. PD

At last deep in the stairwell I hear a tread,

it is him, my leader, my love.

I run to the door and listen to his approach.

Today is National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom, and I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon by revisiting my favorite pet poem (so far).  By happy accident, it's by Thom Gunn, the Anglo-American poet.  "Yoko," written from his dog's viewpoint, surrenders us to an immediate, wholehearted world revolving round good smells and the beloved human.  I have to send you elsewhere to read it whole, but please do.   It's here - 

Yoko

A postscript - Over at The Guardian you can see all kinds of people reading all kinds of poems, many for their pets.  Go here to enjoy.

wordless vintage wednesday

found at seattle antique company

skate free lil hedgie

image copyright and by kindest courtesy of Shirley Harvey Art

Montreal artist Shirley Harvey has created a colorful miniature world in which domestic and wild collide.  Anything can happen in her bright little watercolors, and does, as you see above in  Hedgehog on a Skateboard.  She writes, "I love life to intrigue, surprise, delight, make me chuckle and be beautiful. I believe wholeheartedly art should do the same."  Visit her Etsy shop, ShirleyHarveyArt, and she'll make that happen for you.  Will it be the frog on a hopper toy? (Do they make those for grownups?  I really miss those.)  The Segway rat?  The karaoke hamster (he's so soulful!)?  What does freedom and pleasure look like for these little beings?  Shirley Harvey makes you realize that it may or may not be a tiny skateboard, but you wish them to have that joy, whatever it may be.

a prisoner befriends the mice - and the spiders

Though I've heard of prisoners befriending the mice and rats who might visit their lonely cells, this is the first time I've heard of spiders joining in. . . 

An officer confined to the Bastille, at Paris, begged to be allowed to play on his lute, to soften his confinement by its harmonies. Shortly afterwards, when playing on the instrument, he was much astonished to see a number of mice come frisking out of their holes, and many spiders descending from their webs, and congregating round him while he continued the music. Whenever he ceased, they dispersed; whenever he played again, they reappeared. He soon had a numerous audience, amounting to about a hundred mice and spiders.

-- from Goodrich, S. G. 1793-1860. (1849). Illustrative anecdotes of the animal kingdom. Boston: Rand and Mann. 173.

oliver herford gives as good as he gets

From a book of reminisces by Joseph Cummings Chase:  perennial Museum favorite Oliver Herford gets teased about his humble subject matter, but unsurprisingly has a witty turnaround. . .

A few years ago, while Oliver's "The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten" was being widely read, Childe Hassam attempted to tease him—a dangerous experiment at best. Hassam was considered somewhat of a modernist in his painting. And when he inquired of Oliver, "Why do you always draw kittens—nothing but kittens, kittens, kittens?"  Oliver came back with, "Certainly I draw kittens, but I don't call them landscapes."

 -- Chase, J. Cummings. (1933). My friends look good to me. New York: Sears publishing company. 66.

lady in a blue green dress, and dog on that dress

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US / and life of author plus 100)

I wish I knew what hand created this 18th-century portrait of a "Dame in blau-grünem Kleid mit Bortenstickerei und Spitzenkragen, mit Facher und Hundchen" (translated from German that's Lady in blue-green dress with ribbon embroidery and lace collar, with fan and small dog).  What seized me was its prime example of how dogs and their people look alike after awhile.  I know it's hard to see up above, so I tried to get a little closer in:

Bonus!  This portrait came with the husband version, complete with Hund - want to look?  Here.