Before Internet Cats

September 8, 2017 9:18 AM

Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art. "This exhibition explores the myriad ways in which cats are represented in rare documents like sketches and drawings, letters, and photographs from the nineteenth century through early 2000s." Article about the exhibition: A cat is an artist's best friend. Smithsonian blog post about comparing staff cats with cats from the exhibition.

Via Making a Mark, which also links to exhibitions of Louis Wain's work and of the Society of Feline Artists.

posted by paduasoy (4 comments total)

The staff cats are all the best cat.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:34 PM on September 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

thank you for sharing this :)
posted by misanthropicsarah at 1:48 PM on September 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

welp now I have to go make a trip to DC immediately
posted by Anonymous at 7:44 PM on September 8, 2017

Harry Pointer soon realised that even a relatively straight-forward cat photograph could be turned into an amusing or appealing image by adding a written caption.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:12 PM on September 8, 2017 [5 favorites]