Cats in Art: Two Cats (Marc)

 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 my second post (first was here) on Franz Marc (1880-1916), a key German painter whose life tragically ended early on the Western Front in 1916. This will be a multi-week series (I am still uncovering his cat works).

 

This one--like last last week's from 3 years later--is also entitled Two Cats.

 

 

Image credit Wikipaintings, here. Two Cats, Franz Marc, 1909, oil on canvas, size and location not available.

 

Here we have two very different cats than the pair last week.  The one in this foreground is obviously a calico, thus is female; the  orange and white cat in the back could be either male or female.  Regardless, check out the tails, which reveal the deference of the calico to the orange and white.

 

Stylistically this painting is quite realistic, and the cat images are very authentic.  Marc captures so well the essence of catness: power and grace, especially in the proud orange and white.