Cats in foreign art: contemporary animal artists. How to draw a cat and a cat with a pencil Lithuanian artist Nora


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It's the most luxurious month outside, and therefore AdMe.ru I put together a big and fluffy March post.
All over our vast Earth, in every country, even the smallest, many artists are terribly fond of cats. They are touched by their habits, expressions on their faces and eyes. They lose their vigilance. And cats, playing on feelings, quietly and mercilessly steal hearts. Forever.

But you can enjoy beautiful works of art, imbued with love for these cunning faces.
AdMe.ru collected the most fluffy warm collection of paintings from artists with different corners a world whose hearts have been stolen by cats.

Englishwoman Kim Haskins

Artist Kim Haskins was born in England. Kim mostly works acrylic paints on cardboard or canvas. Her shaggy multi-colored cats with round eyes always bring wide smiles. It is impossible to forget these cute striped bunches. Kim's cats easily, even too easily, steal the hearts of many who look at them.

American artist Joy Campbell

American illustrator Joy Campbell lives in Winlock, Washington. He has been painting for over 30 years. Now he works in oil, and, of course, his favorite theme of the canvases is cats. Her cats are happy with life and self-sufficient. They lounge on sofas and tables, playfully look into people's eyes and completely control people's hearts.

Rihards Donskis, artist from Latvia

Rihards Donskis is an artist from Latvia who works under the name Apofiss. Richard creates atmospheric, slightly mystical illustrations where the cutest cats reign. Tender little eyes with a piercing expression on their faces win the love of the viewer at first sight.

Lithuanian artist Norville

Lithuanian artist Norvile (Norvile Dovidonyte, Nora) is the owner of the red-haired inspiration of Elvis. She loves to draw cats and create an inexhaustible source of Have a good mood and a kind smile. Nora creates a cozy simple life, conveys the funny habits of cute animals. She has long and tenderly been in love with cats.

Vladimir Rumyantsev, artist from St. Petersburg

Vladimir Rumyantsev is a member of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists and the St. Petersburg Society of Watercolorists. He is a member of the Russian Union of Artists. His works are in museum collections in Russia, as well as in private collections in Germany, the USA, Great Britain, Finland and Sweden. His cats are romantic. They see angels, love flowers and the lyrical city on the Neva.

Japanese artist Makoto Muramatsu

Japanese artist Makoto Muramatsu creates incredible tenderness. Cute, velvet cats stole his heart long ago. And now they are stealing the hearts and souls of everyone who stops to admire the incredible cuteness of Makoto’s cats. Muramatsu tenderly describes each cute face and admires his soft pets. Romantic from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Moskvich Stepan Kashirin

Kashirin Stepan Vladimirovich was born in Moscow. He is a member of the UNESCO Federation of Artists. On his canvases, cats live like fluffy, warm people. They drive cars, have get-togethers, and have weddings. Stepan creates life situations, filled with understandable and kind humor. Funny emotions are written on the faces of his cats.

Sad story about the artist who painted cats">

A sad story about an artist who painted cats

Matroskin, Lepold, a kitten named Woof - all these cats, so beloved by us, owe their humanoid appearance to Louis William Wayne. It was this English artist who was the first to endow cats with human behavior and emotions.

Louis Wayne (1860-1939) had a cat, Peter, or more precisely, Peter the Great, named after our Emperor Peter the Great. Louis trained the cat to sit in front of a book with glasses on, as if he were reading, and to follow other simple commands. Louis did all this to entertain his wife, who was dying of cancer.

The miracle did not happen: the young woman died. But during this period, Louis made a lot of sketches of the cat, which became the basis for his future popularity. Starting at the age of 23, he painted almost only cats. At that time they did not yet walk on two legs and did not have human features, but a start had been made. Louis's drawings began to be published in books and magazines.

For us, as fans of cartoons, what is more interesting is that period of Louis Wayne’s work, which can be called “the erect cat.” It began in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Since then, the artist’s popularity has constantly grown; he painted up to six hundred cats a year.

Not many companies can boast such performance. contemporary photographer, but Louis didn’t just press a button, but created masterpieces with pencil and brushes. He designed books, his illustrations were published in magazines, and he even made his own collection, “The Louis Wayne Yearbook.”

The decision of the English post office, which in 1902 allowed the image to be printed on one side of postcards, can be called an epoch-making event for cat lovers. Here Louis turned around completely. Postcards with his cats were popular then, but now they have become an object of hunting for collectors. Currently, their cost can be measured in tens of thousands of dollars.

Louis William Wayne's cats walk on their hind legs, wear suits, smoke, play musical instruments. In general, they lead a normal social life.

“I take my sketchbook to a restaurant or any other busy place and just draw people in their usual cat poses, giving them as human features as possible. This gives my work a dual nature, and I consider them my best jokes.”

Louis Wayne not only painted cats, but also tried to help them. He was a member of all kinds of charitable societies that protect these tabby furries and even became president of the English National Cat Club.

But the artist’s life was not always joyful and cloudless. Louis was pathologically gullible and extremely imprudent. In the tenth years of the last century, he found himself on the brink of poverty, having invested all his money in some murky undertaking. In addition, Louis began to develop schizophrenia.

Lesley Anne Ivory

English artist, textile designer by training. She taught for several years. She successfully exhibited at the Royal Academy and other galleries. Her paintings and drawings with cats are extremely popular all over the world. Leslie Ann Ivory's cats decorate calendars, cards, notebooks, cups, clocks, photo frames, etc. Lesley Ann Ivory has published illustrations for several dozen books, including her own books. For example, “Meet My Cats” talks about the artist’s 12 own cats, and “Perfect Kitties” is an album of drawings by Lesley Ann Ivory, which are accompanied by sayings of poets and writers, ranging from Baudelaire to Tennessee Williams.

Lesley Ann Ivory paints primarily in watercolor and gouache. Her work is influenced by her fascination with Indian and Persian patterns, as well as medieval mosaics and frescoes. Cats in her paintings are often depicted against complex ornamental backgrounds.

The artist who only painted cats

10 facts about Henrietta Ronner-Kniep, whose cats helped her win the love of European monarchs and feed her large family

The artist had no other teachers except her father

Henrietta Kniep ( Henriette Ronner-Knip, 1821 - 1909) was born in Amsterdam. Her father Joseph August Kniep was an artist who painted city views and battle scenes. He began to pass on his craft to his daughter as soon as she reached the age of six: the fact is that already at the age of five she tried to copy his work. By this time, his father had already begun to lose his sight, so Henrietta had to not only study, but also help him: after all, the family’s income depended on how many paintings he painted and what quality.

By the age of 16, Henrietta had succeeded so much that she not only participated in an exhibition, but also sold her painting there - there was a cat in the painting, but the artist would continue to experiment with themes and characters for a long time.

Henrietta never studied at any academies.

Everyone in her family were artists

Pauline Riefer de Courcelles' mother specialized in painting birds. Aunt Henrietta Gertrude Kniep (our heroine was named after her) painted lush floral bouquets. And my paternal grandfather was also an artist.

At first she preferred to portray dogs

Henrietta Ronner-Kniep took on any orders, and at one time her frequent clients were poor merchants who transported their goods in small carts drawn by dogs. Very quickly, such paintings from Ronner-Knip became a trend among merchants - and everyone considered it their duty to order portraits of their helper dogs. Later, wealthy customers also came along - the nobility also wanted to portrait their dogs.

In 1876, Ronner-Kniep painted the favorite dogs of the Queen of the Netherlands - the talented artist immediately became popular with monarchs from other countries. European countries: she is commissioned to paint with her favorites by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, Princess of Wales, Duchess of Edinburgh...

Cats came into the artist’s life when she was already over 50

In the 1870s, Maltese lap dogs were replaced by seals in decent homes: now it became fashionable to keep them. Henrietta Ronner-Kniep also got herself cats: especially since the children grew up (two also became artists), and she wanted to take care of someone. The artist becomes a cat lover - for the next 30 years, until the end of her life, she will paint only cats, watching their games, admiring their poses and, judging by the paintings, allowing them absolutely everything.

She animated the cats

Henrietta Ronner-Kniep's cats don't wear clothes and don't go to work. But she is considered one of the artists with whom the fashion for anthropoporism in animal painting began: animals began to be depicted as similar to people - with complex emotions, characters, a deep meaningful look.

The subjects of Henrietta Ronner-Kniep's cat portraits are real individuals.

And it's not just the eyes, but also the subjects and titles of paintings

The titles of Henrietta Ronner-Kniep’s paintings add “humanity” to her furry heroes: it seems that people should act in subjects with such titles, but no.

Her painting has changed greatly throughout her career

Of course, Henriette Ronner-Kniep did not take important place in the history of painting, you will not find her name in textbooks - among those who changed the visual language, said a new word, invented their own inimitable style. But this does not negate the fact that she was a popular, obviously talented artist and, even having found her main object, continued to experiment with style. It is enough to compare two paintings by Henriette Ronner-Kniep to see the journey she has taken. At the very beginning, she paints in the spirit of the old Dutch masters: dark backgrounds, smooth, neat strokes. And her last works- this is straight up impressionism: light colors, textured dynamic strokes.

The artist's career lasted more than 70 years

She lived for 87 years, worked until the end, and, as we know, from the age of 16 she painted paintings for sale.

She was active, hardworking, but she was not a feminist

And all because of cats. Here's how Philip Hook, author of Breakfast at Sotheby's, explains why women's rights activists won't make an icon out of Henrietta Ronner-Kniep:

She specialized in depicting cats and kittens, often naughty: playing with balls of wool, turning over jugs of milk in the interiors of rich bourgeois living rooms, similar to those in which admiring buyers of her works lived. Madame Ronner-Kniep will never become a feminist icon. The reason is that it too easily found its place in the existing social order and painted pictures on subjects that did not in any way threaten the dominance of men.

Her paintings sold well during her lifetime and today cost tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

She was always the breadwinner. First in her parents' family: as soon as her father finally lost his sight, Henrietta herself carried out all the orders: landscapes, genre scenes, portraits... Then she would get married, move with her husband to Brussels, give birth to six children - and again she would earn money for everyone: no, no , the marriage was happy, but the husband was sick all the time. Fortunately, there were always enough orders: many wanted to see sentimental scenes with animals performed by Ronner-Kniep in their living rooms. Many people want them now - and pay a lot of money for them at auctions.

Illustrations: the-athenaeum.org, sothebys.com, christies.com, artuk.org

Don't forget to tell your friends


Louis Wayne (1860-1939) - famous English artist. He is famous for drawing cats. At some point, his wife becomes very ill and he is forced to spend all his time at the bedside of his sick wife. To amuse her, he draws his domestic cat in different funny poses and situations. The more severe the schizophrenia and the artist’s alienation from real world, the more the images of cats in his paintings resemble fractals. And before the transition to fractals, cats are all charming for the most part become angry and disheveled.


A video in which you can clearly see how the myrlyks appear.
There are so many funny details in the drawings of the British artist Louis Wain that even just commenting on them, you can make up a story. For example, "Game of Cricket". I counted 36 characters there: athletes in full equipment, with cricket bats, spectators in the trees or at tables. The artist captured an unexpected moment of the game: the ball landed on one of the tables, breaking a plate of sandwiches and knocking over a sugar bowl and teapot. What a nuisance! The closer to the epicenter, the emotions are stronger characters. Curiosity, confusion, fear, indignation are written on their... mustachioed faces. The entire honest company, with the exception of an unknown dog trying to break off its leash, consists of cats.

"Golf Game"
Wayne's other drawings also feature cats: taking sea baths, waltzing, golfing cats, jockey cats, football hooligans, musicians. As a rule, they are representatives of the wealthy class, which allows them to dress up in the latest fashion, indulge social entertainment, enjoy opera arias, smoke cigars, drink whiskey.
Wayne's early works are pleasant to look at, but his later ones (which, by the way, are valued much more highly) evoke conflicting feelings. Still admiring the artist’s skill, you suddenly notice that the cats’ faces have become angry. It was these late drawings that caught the eye at the 30th annual exhibition of “cat” art at the Chris Beatles Gallery in the fall. They came to a London gallery owner specializing in the work of Louis Wain after the wealthy psychiatrist from Dublin who owned them died.
It is not surprising that psychiatrists are interested in Wayne's work. For doctors, Wayne's cats have scientific value. They show how schizophrenia changes the artist's personality.
The first-born with a cleft lip, Louis was born into the family of a textile merchant in 1860. The boy's parents sent him to school late; instead of studying, he preferred to wander the streets of London. His classmates teased him. In his youth, to hide his defect, Louis grew a mustache, and soon a woman was found who appreciated his external and internal attractiveness. Emily was the governess of Louis' sisters and was 10 years older than her lover. The young couple got married in 1884, although the young man’s family did not approve of his choice. By that time, his father was no longer alive, and Louis had to take responsibility not only for his wife, but for his mother and five sisters. He began to earn money by drawing scenes from rural life for magazines.
Then Emily was diagnosed with breast cancer. To entertain his sick wife, Louis drew their black and white cat Peter: Peter sometimes wore glasses, sometimes he read a book like a man. These “stupid” sketches became the beginning of the famous cat epic. Dying Emily managed to rejoice for her husband. Success quickly came to him: the very first pictures of cats having fun at a ball, published in the Christmas issue of The Illustrated London News, were liked by both adults and children. Edwardian society was delighted.
In the 1890s, Wayne produced nearly 600 drawings annually. They were published in newspapers, magazines, children's publications, and on postcards. His first cats still looked like representatives of the animal world, but very soon he made them walk on their hind legs, grimace and gesticulate like humans. The artist used sketches made during observations of people for his drawings; it was difficult to find a field of activity or a situation in which he would not involve his anthropomorphic purrs.
The fashion for cats has swept the country. Never before have they been so beloved by the British. Moreover, Wayne not only glorified these animals, he became their patron and was twice elected chairman of the National Cat Fanciers Club. His "Winking Cat" and the three-pussy crest are still the club's emblems.
Material success, a pleasant consequence of popularity, gave Wayne the opportunity to provide for his family (the widowed artist lived under the same roof with his mother and sisters). But the first World War canceled the European fashion for pussies. The Americans showed interest, so he sent a large batch of ceramic “cubist” cats to the USA. The idea went down in literally: The ship with the cargo was sunk by the Germans.
Money was becoming less and less, because Wayne did not take care of his savings. He had previously donated or sold his works for next to nothing, without thinking about copyright. Meanwhile, the sisters, none of whom ever married, needed support. The gentle brother was worried about them and at the same time suspected that they were robbing him. There is a line beyond which strange ideas turn into dangerous mania. Louis finally crossed it in 1924, attacking one of the sisters.
Those who today see in Wayne only a “cat person gone crazy” call possible reason His madness is trichinosis, which can be carried by cats. And experts, who do not exclude a connection between trichinosis and schizophrenia, help this version. Many are tempted to give the artist’s tragedy a dramatic, almost theatrical finality. They also write that his mind was damaged due to the fact that Louis hit his head hard when he fell out of the bus. Allegedly, the driver turned the steering wheel sharply, trying not to run over the cat on the road. Wayne suffered because of the creatures he adored all his life.
A detailed version of the biography reports that the artist was distinguished by oddities even in his youth (he was known as an eccentric) and that there was a predisposition to mental disorders in the Wayne family (one of the artist’s sisters was obsessed with at a young age). Louis was also locked up in an insane asylum. He would have died in that terrible bedlam for the poor, if not for fate in the guise of a talkative visitor: “You paint in the manner of Wayne!” - “I am Wayne...” Everyone who loved his work, the British Prime Minister and the royal family, joined the campaign to save the artist.
H.G. Wells, calling for money to be raised for Wayne, emphasized that three generations of Englishmen had grown up watching the artist’s drawings. It was difficult to find a nursery in the country where his reproductions would not hang on the walls. “He invented his own variety of cats, which had their own style, society, a whole cat world,” said the writer. “After Wayne, all English cats feel ashamed that they are not like his characters.”
The artist was transferred to a comfortable hospital, where he had a separate room. There he lived until his death in 1939. There is a short film from the 1930s in which a decently dressed gentleman pets a cat, then draws a round face on a large sheet of paper, resembling Cheshire cat from "Alice".













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