Cats in Art: Woman 8 (Kuniyoshi)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

On 2 September I used a Utagawa Kuniyoshi image and will continue with several more for the month of September.

Image credit Wikipedia Commons.   Woman 8, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, early to mid 1800s.

Since this is not an image from the Zuffi book, I have no comments to comment upon, so I get to be the art critic.

 

I like the colors--the reds, blues, and black--and how they contrast with the pale brown of the cat.  And I gotta wonder about the first 7 women that preceded this image?

 

To me, it appears that the woman is either reading to the cat, or making a comment to the cat about what she is reading.  The woman seems actively engaged and interested in whatever she is thinking about....for all the good it does with respect to the kitty.

 

The woman may as well not even bother.  I hate to break it to her, but cats don't speak or understand Japanese any more than they speak English.  The cat hears only a soothing sound--the woman's voice--and that's good enough.  Life is good for this kitty, who absolutely must be purring.