Sunday, June 30, 2013

Cats in Art: My Companions (Bonnard)

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.

This is part 8 of 8 of a multiweek study of the cat art of Pierre Bonnard, a French painter (1867-1947). In this series I've moved beyond the two pieces featured by Zuffi and am now studying the rest of Bonnard's cat paintings in chronological order.

It is fitting, perhaps, that as we wrap up our Bonnard study we are looking at a painting done shortly before his death, that by its very title seems to imply an ending, a shrinking life as evidenced by the fact that Bonnard's companions are critters rather than people.




Image credit WikiPaintings, My Companions, Pierre Bonnard, 1940s, sketch, no other information

 
Knowing how our cats just seem to love hanging out on the desk and computer table when I work, I can well imagine the antics of some cats in an art studio when the primary human is at work.
 
Reminds me of the story about Renoir that I previously blogged about here, and how much he loved his kitties.  In fact, the presence of cat hair in his paint is one of the proofs of authenticity.
 
 

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