cats on the page

Oh boy!  The British Library's "Cats on the Page" exhibit is up through March 17, 2019!  Read all about it here.

the cat as doctor

thanks reusableart.com

C. Howard Young suffered from a number of ailments during his life, and even so managed to live a decent span of days (1853-1927).  His 1897 memoir, Sunny Life of an Invalid, isn't as grim as you'd think (a little of it is).  In fact, most of it is chatty, informal, witty and self-deprecating, and appreciative of every comfort that came his way.  He dedicates an entire chapter to "Cats as Doctors: A Debt of Gratitude Paid to Cats."  Here's one of the tribute tales:
* * *
I should allude more at length to the pussy who cared for me at Asbury Park, NJ.
Sitting on the veranda, one summer eve, a poor, woe-be-gone cat slunk by, with pitiful appeals. It was soon to become a mother.
We called it, but in vain. It feared. All men's hands, it felt, were against it. And men's feet, too.
My sister, who had sympathy for all that suffered, always had good influence on all animals. She followed it, and talked soothingly, and soon came back with it. We petted it a few days, and then my sister prepared a bed for it in the woodshed. Large oyster shells were placed around the interesting patient, with various delicacies in them, and the feline population of the United States of America was soon augmented by six.

The next day, that cat appeared in my room with one baby kitten in her mouth. As there was another bed in my room I had it covered with journals. The kitty waited patiently, sprang up, and laid number one on the bed; then emigrated to import the other five kittens.
That cat then took care of the six kittens and myself, and at times brought them over for a visit to my bed. It seemed to regard me as a kind of godfather. Also seemed to regard my bed as possessing superior accommodations for cat housekeeping. "Cast your bread upon the waters." Well, it was this same cat (cats seem to apply the injunction to increase and multiply) that later, with a new family under the stoop, chased away a burglar, by fastening her claws in the calf of his leg at midnight. Possibly, or even probably, she thought the intruder was after her feline family, as well as her adopted human family, but "One good turn deserves another." From the oaths I heard on the veranda, I can see that the burglar felt that one bad turn deserves a scratch. Several!
* * *
Young, C. Howard 1853-1927. Sunny Life of an Invalid. Hartford, Conn.: Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1897. pp. 163-4.

book review: kaibyo, the supernatural cats of japan by zack davisson

image courtesy of publishers

 A young samurai and his mistress take a leisurely stroll outdoors in a print dated 1777 by Isoda Koryusai.  The man turns to his love with an eager face. He either hasn't noticed, or doesn't care, that his girlfriend walking so gracefully in her chic kimono is . . . a cat. Specifically, she's a bakeneko yujo, a shapeshifting cat prostitute.  She's only one of the many supernatural felines we meet in Kaibyō: The Supernatural Cats of Japan by Zack Davisson ($18.95, Chin Music Press and Mercuria Press, copublishers).
This gorgeous little book is full of creatures which will give you new respect for your own household demons.  After all, if they've been around long enough, they might grow a second tail and start walking upright, becoming fierce and frightening magical spirits known as nekomata.  Even scarier are the corpse-eating cat monsters known as kasha, and the Cat Witch of Okabe who lured travelers to their deaths.  Other, more benign creatures are found here too, such as the gotoku neko, who wears a trivet for a hat and likes to keep the fire stoked, and our friend the maneki neko, the inviting cat who's somehow gained a reputation for bringing luck.  Not least is the giant prehistoric Iriomote Great Mountain Cat, rumored but never proven to be stalking the highlands of a remote Japanese island, as illustrated below by Kyosai c. 1860-70:

image believed PD; any omission unintentional
Seiseiyousaiga, Kawanabe  Kyosai

This illustration, I might add, is uncannily like what faces me every morning that I have overslept the cat food alarm.
Davisson's scholarship is detailed and engagingly readable, and includes period stories and folklore as well as a wealth of full-color illustrations.  While it makes a wonderful gift, it's also a solid and useful resource for anyone who takes their cat folklore seriously.

Curator's note: According to the publishers, this is the first of an upcoming series on Japan's supernatural animals.

dr. seuss' dogs and other tidbits

I can always count on the Guardian online to offer up something interesting.  Here's what I found today without even trying:
Photoessay on Dr. Seuss's dogs, including his childhood pet Rex, who sometimes decided to walk on three of his four feet
In Japan, the Kofukuji temple provides funerals for defunct Aibo robot dogs.  Love is where you find it.
I don't know Britt Collins, but we feel a lot alike about cats.
Barbra Streisand cloned her dog - twice!  Did you know that?
Why are kittens so cute? No, seriously, inquiring minds want to know.

a cat woodcut a day keeps the blues away

images copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

Boston, MA artist Hillary Sprague loves woodcuts.  She comes by this love naturally; as the daughter of a master furniture maker, she grew up watching the beauty of natural materials being shaped in tandem with good craft.  "I find beauty in how their unique properties can influence the direction of your craft- as if you are collaborating together," she writes.  

For 2018 she's decided on an intense and fun engagement with her chosen medium.  She's doing a cat-themed woodcut per day till 2019, and that's freehand. No prep drawing, no tracing, just cutting.  Above is "First Light," and below is "Window Seat."  I'm going to reiterate that - one cat woodcut every day.  Longtime readers know how fond I am of woodcuts, so you know I was thrilled.

Want to keep up with the challenge and see her other work? 

Here's H M S Printmaking on Etsy.

Here's her website.

Enjoy!

"my ninth cat keeps calling you and hanging up"

thanks pixabay 

Something lighthearted today:  a random find at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
"My sixteenth cat lies and lies.  My seventeenth cat keep anonymously commenting 'looks stupid' on YouTube videos of cute babies." 
It goes downhill from there.  "What My Pets Say About Me," by Jeff Alberts.

we have often sat just so here at the museum

public domain re hathi trust

"I liked to go into the garden.  She used to sit under a tree and read a book, and I used to sit on the seat close to her, and if she stroked me I purred loud." This illustration is from page 129 of Abby Morton Diaz's 1881 book,  The Cats' Arabian Nights, Or, King Grimalkum. (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.)

who's watching whom?

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Three cats watching fish in an aquarium" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1938. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b992a521-9c85-2498-e040-e00a18063ad7

This illustration by Clyde A. Copson is from a children's book called "A Day with Bum; and the Smart Little Fish," by Morris Wilson, published in 1938.  I can't find anything about Copson or Wilson, but the record for this piece at the New York Public Library notes that the book was created under a Works Progress Administration program for new reading materials.

greyboy pet prints

all images copyright and by kindest permission of the artist, m. pratt

One of the sincerest functions of art is its service to memory, both as an aid and a tribute.  California artist Mandi Pratt uses her skills in photography and printmaking to this end through her studio, Greyboy Pet Prints.  Would you like a photography session?  She'll ask you for your pet's story, learn about his or her personality, and make a comfortable, natural experience so your pet's true self can shine. 

Perhaps you'd rather have an artistic etching created from a photo you love; perhaps your pet is now with you only in memory.  The lovely thing about an etching is how it can bring a particular tactile quality to what you remember.  And if you wish, Pratt can include a very small bit of your pet's ashes into the etching ink.

She kindly shared a couple of photos that illustrate the etching process: wiping down an etched plate...

...and pulling a print from an inked plate.

Visit Greyboy Pet Prints here.  And don't miss Greyboy on Instagram!

jeremy bentham chats on cats....and a pig

thanks british library flickr (PD)

Remember me noting yesterday how Jeremy Bentham seems to have been a great source of copy?  Here's what purports to be an account of the gentleman talking as he pleases, and what pleases him is recalling cats - and one particular swine:

'I had a cat,' he said, ' at Hendon, which used to follow me about even in the street. George Wilson was very fond of animals too. I remember a cat following him as far as Staines. There was a beautiful pig at Hendon, which I used to rub with my stick. He loved to come and lie down to be rubbed, and took to following me like a dog. . . From my youth I was fond of cats, as I am still. I was once playing with one in my grandmother's room. I had heard the story of cats having nine lives, and being sure of falling on their legs ; and I threw the cat out of the window on the grass-plot. When it fell it turned towards me, looked in my face and mewed. "Poor thing!" I said, "thou art reproaching me with my unkindness." I have a distinct recollection of all these things. Cowper's story of his hares had the highest interest for me when young; for I always enjoyed the society of tame animals. Wilson had the same taste so had Romilly, who kept a noble puss, before he came into great business. I never failed to pay it my respects. I remember accusing Romilly of violating the commandment in the matter of cats. My fondness for animals exposed me to many jokes.'

It must have been quite a project to keep up with his conversation.  George Wilson was a close frend of Bentham's; Samuel Romilly was a fellow legal reformer.  Again from White, Adam, 1817-1879. Heads And Tales, Or, Anecdotes And Stories of Quadrupeds And Other Beasts Chiefly Connected With Incidents In the Histories of More Or Less Distinguished Men. London: J. Nisbet, 1870. pp. 151-52.

tombili, and other monuments

By Nevit (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today - after a wonderful minivacation that took me away from the Museum (sorry readers! not sorry) - I find Hyperallergic has a much better post than anything I could offer you today. Dating from October 2016, it's "A Tour of Meownuments to the World’s Most Pawesome Cats," and there are feline institutions included about which even I, your friendly Curator, knew nothing. Included: Istanbul's own Tombili, whose statue seems often to be given refreshment and gifts.  As it should be.

for international cat day, here's some kitty cash

By Latvijas Banka (https://monetas.bank.lv/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

It's International Cat Day! (Except here in the States, where it's also in October.  Stay tuned.) Here's a five-euro Latvian coin for you.  What's in the bowl?  Porridge.  I know because I found the fairytale behind the coin!

Over at the Smithsonian, the National Numismatic Collection welcomed guest curators to select some feline themed favorites for a blog post of their own - wait till you see the Uruguayan 1-peso coin.

Hey look, an International Cat Day playlist.  Yes, "Lovecats" by the Cure is on it.
Meanwhile, I can't look away from this GIF....

via GIPHY

Over at the Guardian, as of this post's writing they haven't weighed in on the Day, but in July they did find this - Stephen Eichorn's mashup collages of felines and fauna.  Lovely.

three carved kitties

Gift of Colonel Michael Friedsam, www.brooklynmuseum.org

Be sure to click on the image above to get a decent look.  This wood relief carving is at the Brooklyn Museum in their European collection, and the caption tells you everything they know and don't know about it:

Unknown. Three Cats Drinking From a Bowl. Wood carving Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Colonel Michael Friedsam, 24.448.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 24.448.2_bw.jpg)

So: a mystery, this beautiful panel.  I think it looks like a product of the Art Deco 1920's, what with the squared-off grapes at the side and they hypermuscularity of the cats. Just a guess.  What do you think?

romanian proverbs

thanks pixabay

From Rumanian Proverbs, collected by Marcu Beza and published in 1921:

• Câinele nu intră, dacă nu-i uşa deschisă. -- A dog doesn't enter if the door is not open.
• De te latră un câine, astupă-i gura cu pâine. -- If a dog barks at you, stop his muzzle with bread.
• Câinii când încep a lătra te lasă, dar gura lumii—pace. -- There is some respite from a barking dog, but never from wagging tongues.
• Câinele latră la lună toată noaptea, şi luna nu-1 ascultă niciodată. --The dog barks at the moon all night long, but the moon never hears him.
• Cine se judecă, adeseori pierde un bou si câştigă o pisică. --The man who goes to law often loses an ox to win a cat.
• Ce naste din pisică soareci mănâncă. -- What is born of a cat eats mice.
• La casa cu două fete mor pisicile de sete. -- In the house where there are two girls, the cats die of thirst.

the true tale of the cat with a fire brigade medal

thanks british library (PD)

A CAT WITH A FIRE-BRIGADE MEDAL. Sir, — A lady friend of mine had a very favourite cat, named "Peter." One night she left him in his usual sleeping-place, and went to her own room. Not long after she heard a noise at her door — scratching and other sounds, which she knew must come from the cat — and took no notice of it at first ; but as it continued, she opened her door, upon which the cat immediately turned and walked down straight to the kitchen, followed by his mistress, who, to her dismay, saw that the legs of the table were on fire! She started at once to the station of the fire-brigade — not waiting for bonnet or shawl — (about five minutes' walk). The engine came and extinguished the fire, and the fire-brigade presented the cat with a medal, which it wore always hung round its neck. This took place in Brighton. The station of the fire-brigade is in West Hill Road, where this story can be verified. The cause of the fire was traced to the fact of the fire in the grate having been raked out as usual, some of the hot cinders had reached the wood-flooring, and the table was not far off. — I am, Sir, &c., Esther Wells. August 31, 1895.

-- from Strachey, J. St. Loe. (1896). Cat and bird stories from the "Spectator": to which are added sundry anecdotes of horses, donkeys, cows, apes, bears, and other animals, as well as of insects and reptiles. London: T. Fisher Unwin. 46.  I found West Hill Road in Brighton on Google Maps - it's a very short road - but I didn't see the fire brigade building.  

tgif

thanks vintage printable (PD)

Yes, it's Friday....time to come home after work, take a bath and do your own thing. This illustration from an 1869 book titled Les chats: histoire, moeurs, observations, anecdotes (Cats: History, morals, observations, anecdotes) is based on a watercolor by the great Swiss cat painter Gottfried Mind.

cat ads of the world

(PD)

So you've seen that hilarious German ad for Netto Marken-Discount grocery stores, yes?  The one that rolls in all the cat memes?  Excellent.  That sent me on a kick...

• to this Japanese ad featuring a most unexpected, if pleasant, result of chewing refreshing gum
• and another from Japan in which "E-Neko" urges you to conserve energy
• these two British milk ads, which are a titch adversarial (and also very funny)
• Audi thought it could get away without using cats. Wrong
• Sweden's Folksam insurance company believes cats can fly
• Best chocolate biscuits ever.

cat fan

Gift of Robert Tuggle and Paul Jeromack, 2015; www.mwtmuseum.org

Henri-Charles Guerard (French, 1846-1897) designed this Art Nouveau-style fan circa 1885-90.  Drawn and painted on stiffened silk and embellished with gold leaf, its pattern of sunflowers and white cats is hypnotic in its rhythm and elegance.  Thoroughly typical of Art Nouveau decorative arts.  Here's a closer look.

candid caturday

That's right, your friendly curator is mailing it in this morning.  

But to be fair, so are most of the staff...as the photographic evidence proves.

more monastic pets

By now you've heard about Friar Bigoton, or "Brother Mustache," the newest member of the Franciscan community in Bogota.  His actual name is Carmelo.  He's a schnauzer by the look of it, and wears a habit well.  His adoption came about thanks to a rescue group in hopes more religious communities might take in homeless pets.  What better home than a monastery or convent for creatures who give the purest of love?
Of course I went looking for whatever I could find on other monastic pets, and came up with this jewel:  a post on the cats of various religious communities in Russia.  It filled me with delight; I hope you enjoy it too.
 -- Late-breaking edit!  Here's a 2015 post on a cat close to my own stomping grounds: Hammi of Vashon Island WA's All-Merciful Savior Monastery.