Cats in Art: Squatted Woman Offering of Milk to a Cat (Vallotton)

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.

This month I am currently featuring 2 more installments of the art of Felix Vallotton--this is 2 of 2. In Dec 2010 I had previously done a Vallotton image entitled Laziness, featuring (what else?) a naked woman and a cat, which may be found here.

 

Image credit The Athenaeum, Squatted Woman Offering of Milk to a Cat, Felix Vallotton, 1918, oil on canvas, 100 cm x 80 cm.

 

Another nude, another cat.  In fact, I have examined all the Vallotton images I could find on the net, and while there were plenty of nudes, there were only a couple of cats...always accompanied by naked women. 

 

Seems Vallotton was quite interested in that combination.

 

In the image above from the Zuffi book, there seems to be a wordless bond between the woman and the placid black cat.  Both the nude and the cat are timeless themes in art, although the woman above seems awkwardly perched and imbalanced.  The model must have had a devil of a time holding that pose.

 

Just another example of the things we do for our cats!

 

 

 

 

Cats in Art: Naked Women to Cats (Vallotton)

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.

This month I am currently featuring 2 more installments of the art of Felix Vallotton--this is 1 of 2.  In Dec 2010 I had previously done a Vallotton image entitled Laziness, featuring (what else?) a naked woman and a cat, which may be found here.

The Vallotton image below also continues that theme:

Image credit WikiPaintings. Naked Women to Cats, Felix Vallotton, 1898, oil on canvas, 41 cm x 52 cm.

Zuffi talks about the rise of the cat in art around 1900:

Part of the credit, at least, must go to the Symbolist movement, which was fascinated by the cat's elusive dual nature, and the possibility of contradictory, mysterious interpretations.  A sinuous, bewitching shape, glittering eyes, and ever-changing positions: during the first quarter of the 20th century, the cat experienced an extraordinary series of representations in painting--perhaps without precedent throughout the history of art until then.

My hat is certainly off to Mssr. Zuffi, who in the paragraph above just nailed it in talking about "...the cat's elusive dual nature...."

Some of my cats, however, seemingly have triple, quadruple, or even more natures.

Cats in Art: Laziness

My continuing Sunday series of Cats in Art.

Image and text credit here.  [1896, Félix Vallotton, La Paresse (Laziness), woodcut]

Swiss artist Félix Vallotton pays homage to the quest for the exotic that was prevalent in the late 19th century. The cat in this woodcut is an important compositional element, completing the strong white diagonal that begins in the bent arm of his human and adding energy to the languor of the subject matter.

Don't you just love the word languor?  Nothing better after a long run.