Vernacular cat art post

My friend Heather is the proud owner of a folk-art painting of a cat. This painting has been the subject of much critical discussion in her family and circle of friends. Heather maintains it's a masterpiece of American Vernacular Art. Her husband disagrees.

But I have to thank Heather for creating, in our bloggy circles, a new category of art - Vernacular Cat Art. During my travels, I've been on the lookout for examples, and so I proudly present to you this wonderful piece.

It is a piece of fabric taken from the fuselage of a French World War I fighter plane from 1914. It is part of the collection in the Musee de la Vie Bourguignonne Perrin de Peycousin, in Dijon, France.

A real artsy cat

Click to "embiggen"

A bit more than a year ago, our blogging friend Mrs. G revealed one of the artistic treasures of her home, and courageously bared her soul to the comments of critics.

It was a yard-sale find; one that she felt was an undervalued treasure. It was a painting - in fact, it was a larger than life-size portrait of a Siamese cat with compelling blue eyes.

You can read all about it at the link above. The gist of the story is that despite the critics, Mrs. G still treasures her cat painting, seeing it as an excellent example of naif American folk art. Or maybe paint-by-numbers.

That in mind, the other day while at a local antique store, I was struck by the painting above. A small panel, perhaps 12" x 12" painted in acrylic, it is another cat portrait painted in the naif style American folk art.

This cat, a ginger tabby, with a muscular, stocky body, looks guardedly at the viewer as it poses alongside what appears to be a papier-mache bobble-head toy tiger. The overarching line of the cat's tail is echoed by that of the toy. Both the cat and the toy have unusually large and powerful paws.

I sent her a photo, and await her response. I think Mrs. G could expand her collection, don't you think? It could be the primary on-line gallery of American Vernacular Cat Art. Perhaps we could host it together! It would be the Cat Art event of the year.

Detail of the shrine

I find that I have more Cat Art around the house than I realized. My folk art Vodou shrine bought after Hurricane Katrina shows a herd of cats being rescued from a flooded house Uptown by mischievous Lwa spirits.

I even have a papier-mache bobble-head cat - this one from Oaxaca.

Of course, this leads to a larger question - why have artists found the Cat to be such a fascinating subject? Is it the inscrutability of the Cat that proves to be so ellusive? Are cats easier to paint than dogs? As subjects, are they more rewarding?

Here's another exploration of Cat-as-art - the rather disturbing photo essay "Why Paint Cats?" by Burton Silver and Heather Busch

Painted cats? No. That's too much.

 It's just wrong.

Do you have Cat paintings in your home collection? Or Painted Cats?

UPDATE: I am humbled by the amazing Cat Art collection exhibited by Smalltown Mom.  Please disregard my feeble efforts, and visit her awesome blog.