Cats in Art: The Blue Cat (Steinlen)

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.

I am currently featuring 4 installments of the art of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen--this is 4 of 4:

Image credit WikiGallery. The Blue Cat, T. A. Steinlen, ca. 1900, oil on canvas.

Great capture by Steinlen of that magical in-between state that cats maintain between sleep and wakefulness.  The operative term is probably "awareness," whereby the cat can doze but still be cognizant of its surroundings in case something happens.  The eyes are shut but the ears remain on duty.

 

Cats in Art: Ete, Chat Sur une Balustrade (Steinlen)

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.

I am currently featuring 4 installments of the art of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen--this is 3 of 4:

Image credit WikiGallery.  Ete, Chat sur une Balustrade, 1909, [Summer, Cat on a Railing] T. A. Steinlen, 1894, oil on canvas. Held by Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.

This poor kitty appears annoyed, although that word seems not quite strong enough.  In life, the tail would undoubtedly be swishing vigorously.  Were you dumb enough to venture over to the railing to try to pet said cat, your punishment would be quick and sure.

I like how Steinlen captures the general essence of catness here--I can well imagine this same painting being of a leopard lounging on a tree limb in Africa.

 

Cats in Art: Reopening of the Chat Noir Cabaret (Steinlen)

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.

I am currently featuring 4 installments of the art of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen--this is 2 of 4:

Image credit WikiGallery.  Reopening of the Chat Noir Cabaret, 1896, T. A. Steinlen, 1896, oil on canvas.

The poster cat looks a tad bit hyper--either hopped up on catnip, or out of sorts due to all the humans attending the reopening of the cabaret. 

Or, merely mugging for the artist and acting the part of being famous enough to have a cabaret named after you.

 

Cats in Art: Two Cats Poster (Steinlen)

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.

I am currently featuring 4 installments of the poster art of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen--this is 1 of 4:

Image credit WikiGallery.  Two cats: Poster for the Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by T. A. Steinlen, T. A. Steinlen, 1894, colored lithograph and watercolor, 23" x 19 ", held by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

Zuffi's analysis:

This lithograph, clearly inspired by Japanese art, right down to the elegant calligraphic monogram...is the printer's proof for the poster of the first and most comprehensive exhibition of the work of Steinlen, who was the first great poster artist in the history of art and advertising, working closely with Toulouse-Lautrec.  Steinlen adored cats, and considered it a mark of destiny that he began his career working for a periodical entitled Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat).  Indeed, his first collection of engravings was devoted to cats.  For this reason, as the key image of his first retrospective exhibition, he chose the soft, elegant lines of two practically Art Nouveu cats; the image also plays on the chromatic contrast between a three-colored "harlequin" cat [we in the U.S. use the term calico] in the foreground and the extremely elegant, totally black cat in the background.

Steinlen captures perfectly a phenomenon that I like to call "cats pretending they're not with you" in which a cat follows or accompanies you somewhere, then lies down in an oblique posture that emphasizes its independence...all the while keeping one eye out for any action on your part.

 

Cats in Art: Lait pur Stérilisé

My continuing series of Sunday posts.

Image and text credit here.  [1894, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Lait pur Stérilisé, lithograph]

Lithography emerged in the late 19th century as a favorite graphic arts medium for advertising. This poster advertises pure, sterilized milk and features the artwork of Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, well-known for his illustrations of cats.

Cats will dance for milk.  Just like I will kill for a liter of zero-calorie flavored fizzy water after a long run.