Cats in Art: Mimi and Her Cat (Gauguin)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  You really should check out and/or own both of these wonderful works, easily available on Amazon or eBay (and I have no financial interest).

This is the second of a series of posts on the art of Paul Gauguin.

Image credit Gauguin Gallery, Mimi and Her Cat, Paul Gauguin, 1890, gouache on cardboard, approx 7" square, held in a private collection.

No need for a kitty close-up here: despite the tiny original dimensions, this reproduced image is large and bold.  Unfortunately, I could uncover no other information about young Mimi or the cat.  Mimi may be one of the eight Gauguin children, perhaps short for the eldest son Emile...except that the title of the painting is Mimi and Her Cat.  Perhaps this is the child of a Gauguin family friend?

This feline is obviously a good kitty, given the fact that it is eating up the attention of a small child...which is rather exceptional cat behavior.

Also I note that this tiny painting is held in a private collection.  At the risk of sounding like Indiana Jones, wouldn't it be nice of it were in a museum where the whole world could enjoy it?

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Study of Cats and a Head (Gauguin)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  You really should check out and/or own both of these wonderful works, easily available on Amazon or eBay (and I have no financial interest).

This is the first of a series of posts on the art of Paul Gauguin.

Image credit The Athenaeum, Study of Cats and a Head, Paul Gauguin, ca 1890s, watercolor on paper, 8" x 11", held in a private collection.

 And now a pair of kitty close-ups.  The first seems to be a pose well known to any cat "owner," a cat throwing up.  Note the arched back, the head low to the ground, the fact that the impact zone looks to be carpet rather than a hard surface.

And a better image, this time of a good kitty, just laying there, evidently quite happy to be part of a family.

Bugler notes that cats were a frequent part of Gauguin's paintings:

His work is laden with mystical symbolism, but it is not certain that he intended his cats to hold any particular significance beyond conveying a sense of the reassuringly familiar.

I've featured 3 of Gauguin's works here previously: Eiaha Ohipa, Nativity, and Where Do We Come From?  I agree with Bugler that there seems not to be any hidden meanings in Gauguin's cats, just painting a reassuring object into an image.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Eiaha Ohipa (Gauguin)

Life is interfering with blogging, so I am rerunning a Cats in Art post that I originally ran some 5 years ago.  Enjoy!

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Cats in Art: Eiaha Ohipa

Continuing my Sunday tradition of Cats in Art.

Photo and text credit here.

This painting by Paul Gauguin is sometimes referred to as A Tahitian Interior, but the artist named it Eiaha Ohipa which means "doing nothing" in the language of Tahiti. And is there anyone who can do nothing better than a cat?


[1896, Paul Gauguin, Eiaha Ohipa, painting]

I love Gauguin's notion of "doing nothing" and including a cat.  Well done!

Cats in Art: Nativity (Gauguin)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I am using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.  Last week I also did a Gauguin entitled Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 

Image credit Wikipaintings. Navitity, Paul Gauguin, 1896, oil on canvas, 37" x 50", held by Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.

 

Zuffi calls this one of Gauguin's great masterpieces,

 

"...perhaps the high point of his very personal form of mysticism, which fused Christian traditions with the exotic settings of the Pacific islands.  The scene takes place in a Polynesian hut, where a young woman has just given birth to her child: the faint haloes around the heads of the very young mother and the newborn call to mind the iconography of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.  The simplicity of the Tahitian house is comparable to that of the hut in Bethlehem, and the stable in the background is a further homage to the history of sacred painting.  On the bed we can see the outline of a white cat, which makes its presence felt by gently brushing its soft fur against the smooth, dark skin of the girl's legs."

Leave it to Gauguin--the only way to improve the nativity story would be to add a cat and move the setting to a tropical paradise. 

As he merges the theme of the kitty with the birth of Christ, we have a perfect post for this Christmas season.

 

Cats in Art: Where Do We Come From? (Gauguin)

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

First the global view:

Image credit Wikipaintings.  Where Do We Come From? What Are We?  Where Are We Going?  Paul Gauguin, 1897, oil on canvas, 4.5' x 12.3' (that's HUGE!), held by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

Then the detail from the center foreground, with the kitties, of course:

Zuffi sets the historic stage:

This monumental painting is considered the painter's true spiritual testament.  Unbound, unconventional, and a lover of travel and adventure, Gauguin was approaching the end of his life--in the remote islands of the Pacific, far from the modern world that he disliked....In this consummate masterpiece--the deep and very sincere reflection of a man who never sought out abstruse philosophies, to the point that he described himself as a "dabbler"--it is a great comfort to find the familiar outline of a cat, our slightly mysterious but not unfaithful companion on life's journey.

Who better to journey with than a pair of cats?  Who care nothing for the big questions of life (Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?) but rather just want to be petted and to purr.

Indeed, if one our life goals is to make each of our cats purr daily, and if our leaders all did the same, I can't help but think that our global problems would certainly be fewer. 

For example, if President Obama was being pressed by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to offer moral and military support for Israel's military actions in Gaza, now that's a tough question, full of life-and-death implications and possible unintended consequences.

Suppose the President, said, "You know, Ben, let me get back to you on that.  I have a kitty to pet first."

I can't help but think better decisions are more likely to result.

Cats in Art: Eiaha Ohipa

Continuing my Sunday tradition of Cats in Art.

Photo and text credit here.

This painting by Paul Gauguin is sometimes referred to as A Tahitian Interior, but the artist named it Eiaha Ohipa which means "doing nothing" in the language of Tahiti. And is there anyone who can do nothing better than a cat?


[1896, Paul Gauguin, Eiaha Ohipa, painting]

I love Gauguin's notion of "doing nothing" and including a cat.  Well done!