A new book would have us believe artists have a kinship with paws and
whiskers. But on closer inspection, they’re not all cuddles
Henri Matisse with pet cat – and kitten. Photograph: Robert Capa International Centre
Jonathan Jones
Do artists have a pet of choice? A new book full of cute old photographs of artists and their cats makes it look that way.
Henri Matisse
and his feline friend, Georgia O’Keeffe with her moggy, Salvador Dalí
and his – it looks, from this collection of double portraits, as if the
artistic temperament has always been drawn to paws and whiskers.
Undoubtedly, artists are fascinated by the sleekest of furry pets. Cats
are so enigmatic, poised between the domestic world and their nocturnal
realm of wild prowls and hunts. They resemble their dangerous big cat
relatives, behaviourally and visually, much more than most dogs resemble
their ancestral wolf. Yet their mysterious ambiguity – cuddly pet or
nighttime killer? – makes them far more complex figures in art than
these softhearted pictures of artists cuddling their kitties might
suggest.
Petal … Georgia O’Keeffe with cat
In ancient Egypt, the cat was divine, a messenger not just between
the home and the wild but the earthly and the supernatural. Egyptian cat
portraits such as the British Museum’s famous bronze, cast around 600
BC, are instantly recognisable to modern eyes as “pets” – and highly
loved ones. The British Museum cat is laden with gold and silver in what
seems to be an image of how an actual cat might be adorned by its
owner. It is at once a depiction of a real animal and a homage to the feline goddess Bastet.
That cat’s something I can’t explain
– it is an uncanny animal, come from beyond. Cats are often troubling,
not always cosy, in art. However much artists may adore their cats, they
also imagine them as demons and menaces. Perhaps that appeal to the
imagination is why some are drawn to them as pets.
Puddy … Salvador Dalí and his pet ocelot. Photograph: Library of Congress
Manet portrays a cat as a contented domestic companion in his painting Woman with Cat, but in his scandal-stirring masterpiece Olympia a black cat rears up its back and sticks up its hair in a pose of electrifying, hilarious aggression.
Cats, in short, are sinister as well as cuddly in art. Let’s not even
get started on depictions of witchcraft. No wonder some artists have
preferred dogs. Sadly, this collection of artists posing with pet cats
is not statistically meaningful. Some have cats, others have dogs. Joshua Reynolds had a parrot.
Hogarth, who includes that wicked cat in his portrait of the Graham
children, chose to portray himself with his pet pug. Both are tough,
down-to-earth characters – not like those flighty felines.
Picasso loved dogs too. Is there a pattern here? Do macho, aggressive
male artists identify with dogs while more tender ones prefer cats?
There seems to be a potential symbolism in Picasso the dog lover versus
Matisse the cat owner.
The cat may or may not be the artist’s ideal pet. But it is certainly a magical creature in art.
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