vintage halloween greetings

thanks freevintageillustrations.com

Nothing like a cozy chat about ghosts between friends.  But if you love Halloween as much as I do, then this makes perfect sense. 

Happy Halloween, dear readers all!

Keep your black cats safe, and have fun!

neko no hisu

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Juda (M.73.37.419)
www.lacma.org

. . . or anyway that's what Google Translate said when I typed in "cat hiss".  (Please, if you speak Japanese, tell me what it really is!)  It's October, and that means black cats.  This woodblock print, "Black Cat Hissing," by Takahashi Hiroaki (Japan, 1871-1945) shows one in full fury.  Japanese culture doesn't weight black cats down with the spooky scary symbolism Westerners do; in fact they are considered good luck, which is only right considering black cats are known for being mostly mellow in nature.  Was this done for the Western market, or was Hiroaki enjoying the sinuous curve the cat makes? 

a little black kitten by agnes bodor

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

"I just like cats and drawing them," Seattle artist Agnes Bodor writes.  It shows, particularly in her watercolors of black cats.  With well-handled balance between controlling the paint and letting it do what it wants, Bodor models and shapes even the most sable feline.  You can easily see the way light hits shiny fur, and the way legs bunch up when a cat assumes the loaf position or turns to investigate something.  The watchful kitty above is one of my favorite items in her Etsy shop. Here's another one you should see, but ah, you must also see and appreciate this white cat.

happy halloween, happy harvest

By Grigoriev (http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Page-207.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The harvest is in, the spirits are out.  In Boris Grigoriev's "Still Life with Cat and Onions" (Russian; circa 1928), this fine black kitty seems to take her duties overseeing this world and the next very seriously.

From our haunt to yours, dear Museum friends,

Happy Halloween!!

george carlson's beautiful black cat

found on pinterest. believed PD (US publication before 1923)

What an elegant image.  Mind you, this is on a children's periodical, so imagine young eyes and minds getting used to work of this quality.  That was easily done if you were a child lucky enough to subscribe to John Martin's Book, published from 1912 to 1933.  Illustrator George Carlson (1887-1962) was the primary contributor of that periodical's covers and illustrations.  This is his cover for October 1918, which leaves you to interpret the cat's expression based on sketched whiskers and luminous eyes.  See, too, how the cat is stepping out of the cover's frame.  It's dynamic, and it's clever - have you spotted the tiny gray mouse yet?

wordless vintage wednesday

thanks lovely shop on se stark

a travelogue cat 1899

thanks british library flickr (PD)

This little black kitty is a bit of a mystery.  He's found on page 22 of "Espana Negra," a travelogue by the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren which Dario de Regoyos translated into Spanish and published in 1899, "with illustrations by the author."  So that's Emile Verhaeren?  Then why are de Regoyos' initials on this piece?  Verhaeren was one of the founding individuals behind the French Symbolist literary movement, not a visual artist.  So I think I know the answer - translator = author. Does it seem random he'd be translating and illustrating a work by a Belgian?  Not so much when you learn that he studied in Brussels and was active in modern art movements there.
Want to see the actual book?  You can see it here!

tommy....cat?

thanks the-athenaeum.org (PD)

Boston artist Marie Danforth Page (1869-1940) was a well regarded society painter.  Fashionable as her portraits may be, they can be arresting - as is this one, "Tommy" (1913).  Danforth Page, who had no children of her own, loved to paint them and did so with all the sweetness you'd expect and that you see here.  Yet this little boy in his spotless outfit has the surprising sidekick of a huge black cat, draped over his boy's legs with a pure air of possession and a drop-dead gaze.
Here's a thoughtful article about Danforth Page and her career.

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!

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

it's black cat appreciation day!

I didn't know until really late today!

Now that I do know...here's my all time favorite photo

of the beautiful Veronica