Cats in Foreign Art: Modern Animal Artists. A sad story about an artist who painted cats American illustrator Joy Campbell

Don't forget to tell your friends

Louis Wain (1860-1939) is a famous English painter. He is famous for drawing cats. At some point, his wife becomes very ill and he is forced to spend all the time at the bedside of his sick wife. To entertain her, he draws his pet cat in various funny poses and situations. The more severe the schizophrenia and the artist's alienation from the real world became, the more the images of cats in his paintings resemble fractals. And before the transition to fractals, cats from charming are increasingly becoming angry and disheveled.

Vidio, which clearly shows how the myrlyks are shown.
There are so many funny details in the drawings of the British artist Louis Wayne that even just commenting on them, you can write a story. For example, "The game of cricket." I counted 36 characters there: athletes in full gear, with cricket bats, spectators in trees or at tables. The artist captured an unforeseen moment of the game: the ball landed on one of the tables, breaking a plate of sandwiches, overturning a sugar bowl and a teapot on the ground. What a nuisance! The closer to the epicenter, the stronger the emotions of the characters. Curiosity, confusion, fear, indignation are written on their ... mustachioed muzzles. The whole honest company, with the exception of a dog that is not clear whose leash is torn from the leash, consists of cats.

"Golf Game"
Wayne's other drawings also feature cats: sea bathers, waltzers, golfer 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 in secular entertainment, enjoy opera arias, smoke cigars, drink whiskey.
Wayne's early works are pleasant to consider, but the later ones (by the way, they are valued much higher) evoke conflicting feelings. Still admiring the skill of the artist, you suddenly notice that the cat's faces have become angry. It was these late drawings that caught the eye at the 30th Annual Cat Art Show at the Chris Beatles Gallery in the fall. They came to a London gallery owner specializing in the work of Louis Wayne after the wealthy Dublin psychiatrist who owned them died.
There is nothing surprising in the fact that psychiatrists are interested in Wayne's work. For physicians, Wayne's cats have scientific value. They show how schizophrenia changes the artist's personality.
The first child with a cleft lip, Louis was born to a textile merchant in 1860. Parents sent the boy to school late, instead of classes, he preferred to roam the streets of London. Classmates teased him. In his youth, to hide his flaw, 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 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 either wore glasses, or, like a man, read a book. 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 the 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 a year. They were published in newspapers, magazines, children's publications, on postcards. His first cats were still similar to representatives of the animal world, but very soon he made them walk on their hind legs, grimace and gesticulate in a human way. The artist used for drawings sketches made during observations of people, it was difficult to find a field of activity or a situation in which he would not involve his anthropomorphic purrs.
Fashion for cats has swept the country. Never before have they been so loved by the English. Moreover, Wayne not only sang of these animals, he became their patron and was twice elected chairman of the National Cat Fanciers Club. His "Winking Cat" and three-pussy crest are still the club's emblems.
Material success, a pleasant consequence of popularity, gave Wayne the opportunity to provide for his relatives (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 the literal sense: the ship with the cargo was sunk by the Germans.
Money was becoming less and less, because Wayne did not take care of savings. He used to give his works or sell them for next to nothing, not thinking about copyrights. 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 stealing from him. There is a line beyond which strange ideas turn into dangerous delusions. Louis finally crossed it in 1924, attacking one of the sisters.
Those who today see Wayne as nothing more than a "crazed cat person" cite cat-borne trichinosis as a possible cause of his insanity. And experts who do not exclude the connection between trichinosis and schizophrenia help this version. Many are tempted to give the artist's tragedy a dramatic, almost theatrical finish. They also write that his mind was damaged due to the fact that Louis hit his head hard after falling out of the bus. Allegedly, the driver turned the steering wheel sharply, trying not to crush the cat on the road. Wayne suffered because of the creatures he had adored all his life.
In a detailed version of the biography, it is reported that the artist was strange 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 went crazy at a young age). Luis was also locked up in a lunatic asylum. He would have died in that terrible bedlam for the have-nots, if not for fate in the guise of a talkative visitor: “You draw in the manner of Wayne!” - "I am Wayne ..." Everyone who loved his work, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the royal family, joined the campaign to save the artist.
Herbert Wells, urging to collect money for Wayne, emphasized that three generations of English people grew up in 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 kind of cats, which had their own style, society, the whole cat world,” the writer said. “After Wayne, all English cats feel ashamed that they don’t look like his characters.”
The artist was transferred to a comfortable hospital, where he had a separate room. He lived there until his death in 1939. A short film from the 1930s has survived, where a decently dressed gentleman strokes a cat, then draws a round muzzle on a large sheet of paper, reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice.

Cats and cats are incredibly graceful and beautiful animals, so drawing them is a real pleasure. For novice artists who have recently begun to master graphics, master classes on how to draw a cat with a pencil in stages are suitable.

The creation of such cats does not require skill, talent or artistic taste. If a child asks to draw a cat, and time is running out, then you can limit yourself to funny images.

sleeping kitten

Anyone can easily draw such a sleeping miracle. All that is needed for this is an A4 sheet, soft and hard pencils, an eraser, a little patience and perseverance.

Stage 1: We start drawing a sleeping cat from the head. To do this, draw a circle with a hard pencil and mark thin auxiliary lines. The vertical divides the muzzle clearly in half, and the horizontal passes so that the upper part accounts for more than half of the circle.

Stage 2: Focusing on the auxiliary lines marked in the first stage, we outline the kitten's eyes, nose and mouth.

Stage 3: Mark the contour of the head with a soft pencil. We draw ears, protruding fur, and a funny “whirlwind”.

Stage 4: draw the body of the animal and draw the tail. Please note that the kitten is curled up, so the tail covers part of the muzzle.

Stage 5: At the last stage, paws and whiskers are drawn. Gently erase the extra lines and markings with an eraser. The kitten is ready. If desired, it can be painted with paints or colored pencils, or left as is.

naughty kitten

This naughty baby will appeal to any child. You need to start drawing a mischievous kitten from the head. We draw a circle, we add triangular ears and we draw a muzzle. Then follows the drawing of the torso and paws. Play with the emotions of the kitten and show your child that the mood of the cat shown in the picture depends on small details. Surprise can be conveyed with wide eyes; a protruding tongue will add mischief, and by slightly shifting the pupils to the side, you can make a thoughtful or sad cat.

Kitten from circles

Such a drawing of a cat from circles with a pencil can be done even by a child, since this is one of the easiest ways for beginners. The animal is drawn from the back, so there is no need to draw features and keep proportions.

First, two circles are drawn on the sheet so that they intersect slightly with each other. In this case, the diameter of the lower one should be approximately twice as large as the upper one. Then the ears are drawn to the top, and the tail to the bottom. Then the mustache is drawn and the wool is arbitrarily marked.

One circle, two circles

Another good example of how you can easily and quickly draw a cat with a pencil.

A larger circle is drawn first, and then another smaller circle is drawn inside it. Add ears, facial features and tail. A funny sleeping kitten will appeal to children and will be able to quickly distract the child and cheer him up.

Such a sketch is a cross between simple schematic drawings and realistic drawings of animals.

We mark the contour of the animal with thin auxiliary lines made with a hard lead. The sketch of the head looks like an octagon, the ears are triangles, the torso is a rectangle or cylinder. After that, we make markings for the paws.

We draw a horizontal line in the center of the head, thus indicating the level of the eyes. We draw outlines of the mouth and nose, round eyes. We draw a chin, mustache.

We clearly denote the muzzle. We draw in detail the eyes, nose, mustache and cheeks. With a soft pencil, draw the villi on the ears, on the head and muzzle. Then we draw the front paws with claws and pads, detailing the back.

At the final stage, all auxiliary lines are carefully erased. It's the turn to draw fur. For these purposes, a 2M (or 2B) lead is best suited, but in principle any soft lead can be used.

Realistic

It seems to many that realistic pet portraits are not the easiest task for beginners, but in fact, not all sketches are difficult. You can verify this using the example of a step-by-step instruction for a portrait of a Scottish fold.

Draw a Scottish Fold cat with a pencil

Scottish Folds are loved by many breeders for their temperament and charming appearance. Due to the distinctive feature of the breed - ears bent forward and down, these cats look so cute that it is impossible to resist cuddling such a mustache. We offer a simple step-by-step lesson for beginners on how to draw a British cat with a pencil step by step.

At the first stage, auxiliary lines are outlined with a hard pencil: 1 vertical and 2 horizontal. The vertical one shows the center of the muzzle, so it needs to be moved slightly to the right from the center of the page, since the cat sits slightly turned.

The horizontal ones should be parallel to each other as they indicate the size of the animal's eyes. After that, you need to start drawing the contour of the muzzle and eyes.

Important! For a cat to be proportional, the distance between the eyes must match the size of the eye.

When drawing the nose, remember that its size should be less (narrower) than the distance between the eyes.

Then with a lead M or TM we darken the eyes and nose. For more experienced artists who are confident in their movements, a black pen can be used for this purpose.

To make the look of the cat "alive", do not forget to leave unpainted, white places, as in the picture.

In the third step, you will need a 2M (or B2) pencil. Gently, with smooth lines, shading the strokes, darken the places around the pupils. Notice how the color transitions from the darkest (around the pupils) to the lightest. Then, arrows are marked with a hard lead, in the direction from the nose. They show directions for drawing wool.

With the softest lead (it is better to use B4 or 4M), focusing on the arrows, draw the darkest wool. The crown and under the ears should be the darkest.

To complete the picture, draw the rest of the wool. The cat is ready

Attention! The color of the villi depends on the force of pressing.

The artist who painted only cats

10 Facts About Henriette Ronner-Kniep Who Cats Helped Win the Love of European Monarchs and Feed Her Large Family

The artist had no other teachers besides her father

Henrietta Knip ( Henriette Ronner Knip, 1821 - 1909) was born in Amsterdam. Her father Joseph August Knip 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 income of the family depended on how many paintings he would write and what quality.

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

Henrietta never studied at any academies.

Everyone in her family was an artist.

Mother Pauline Rifer de Courcelles specialized in depicting birds. Aunt Henrietta Gertrude Knip (our heroine was named after her) wrote lush flower bouquets. And my paternal grandfather was also an artist.

At first, she preferred to portray dogs

Henrietta Ronner-Knip took on any order and at one time her frequent customers were poor merchants who transported their goods in small carts pulled 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 pulled up - they also wanted to portray their dogs.

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

Cats entered the life of the artist when she was already over 50

In the 1870s, seals pushed aside in decent houses of Maltese lapdogs: it has now become fashionable to keep them. Henrietta Ronner-Knip got herself cats: all the more, the children grew up (two also became artists), and she wanted to take care of someone. The artist becomes a cat lady - 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 pictures, allowing them absolutely everything.

She animated the cats

Henrietta Ronner-Knip's cats don't wear clothes and don't go to work. But she is attributed to the artists who started the fashion for anthropomorphism in animalistics: animals began to be depicted like people - with complex emotions, characters, and a deep meaningful look.

The heroes of cat portraits by Henrietta Ronner-Knip are real personalities.

And it's not just about the eyes, it's about the plots and titles of paintings

The titles of Henriette Ronner-Knip's paintings add "humanity" to her furry characters: it seems that people should act in plots with such titles, but no.

Her painting has changed a lot throughout her career.

Of course, Henriette Ronner-Kniep did not occupy an important place in the history of painting, you will not find her name in textbooks - among those who changed the pictorial language, said a new word, invented her own inimitable style. But this does not negate the fact that she was a popular, obviously talented artist and, even after finding her main subject, continued to experiment with style. It is enough to compare two paintings by Henriette Ronner-Kniep to see what path she has traveled. At the very beginning, she paints in the spirit of the old Dutch masters: a dark background, smooth, neat strokes. And her latest works are directly impressionism: light colors, textured dynamic strokes.

The artist's career spanned over 70 years.

She lived for 87 years, worked until the last, 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 it's all because of the cats. Here's how Philip Hook, author of Breakfast at Sotheby's, explains why women's rights activists don't make Henrietta Ronner-Knip an icon:

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

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

She has always been a provider. First, in the parental family: as soon as her father completely lost his sight, Henrietta herself carried out all the orders: landscapes, genre scenes, portraits ... Then she will get married, move with her husband to Brussels, give birth to six children - and again she will earn 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-Knip in their living rooms. Many want now - and pay a lot of money for them at auctions.

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

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thanks for that
for discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us at Facebook and In contact with

It's the most luxurious month in the yard, and therefore Bright Side put together a big and fluffy March post.
All over our vast Earth, in every, even the smallest, country, there are so many artists who are terribly fond of cats. They are touched by habits, expressions of faces and eyes. Lose vigilance. And cats, playing on feelings, imperceptibly and ruthlessly steal hearts. Forever and ever.

But you can enjoy beautiful works of art, saturated with love for these cunning faces.
Bright Side collected the fluffiest warm collection of paintings from artists from different parts of the world, whose hearts have been stolen by cats.

Englishwoman Kim Haskins

Artist Kim Haskins was born in England. Kim mainly works with acrylics on cardboard or canvas. Her shaggy multicolored cats with round eyes invariably cause wide smiles. It is impossible to forget these touching striped heaps. Kim's cats easily, too easily, steal many of the hearts of those who look at them.

American artist Joy Campbell

American illustrator Joy Campbell lives in Winlock, Washington. Has been painting for over 30 years. Now she works in oil, and, of course, cats are her favorite theme of the canvases. Her cats are happy with life, self-sufficient. They are lounging on sofas and tables, playfully look into the eyes and completely control the hearts of people.

Richard Donskis, artist from Latvia

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

Lithuanian artist Norville

Lithuanian artist Norvile (Norvile Dovidonyte, Nora) is the mistress of the red-haired mastermind Elvis. She loves to draw cats, create an inexhaustible source of good mood and a kind smile. Nora creates a cozy, simple life, conveys the funny habits of cute animals. She has long and dearly 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 have long stolen his heart. And now they are stealing the hearts and souls of everyone who stops to admire the transcendent cuteness of Makoto cats. Muramatsu tenderly prescribes each cute muzzle, admires her soft pets. Romantic from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Moskvich Stepan Kashirin

Kashirin Stepan Vladimirovich was born in Moscow. Member of the UNESCO Federation of Artists. On his canvases, cats live like fluffy warm people. They drive cars, arrange gatherings, play weddings. Stepan creates life situations filled with understandable and kind humor. Funny emotions are written on the faces of his cats.

It is the most luxurious month in the yard, and therefore we have collected a large and fluffy March post.
All over our vast Earth, in every, even the smallest, country, there are so many artists who are terribly fond of cats.

They are touched by habits, expressions of faces and eyes. Lose vigilance. And cats, playing on feelings, imperceptibly and ruthlessly steal hearts. Forever and ever.

But you can enjoy beautiful works of art, saturated with love for these cunning faces.
We have collected the fluffiest and warmest collection of paintings from artists from all over the world whose hearts have been stolen by cats.

Richard Donskis, artist from Latvia

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

Englishwoman Kim Haskins

Artist Kim Haskins was born in England. Kim mainly works with acrylics on cardboard or canvas. Her shaggy multicolored cats with round eyes invariably cause wide smiles. It is impossible to forget these touching striped heaps. Kim's cats easily, too easily, steal many of the hearts of those who look at them.

American artist Joy Campbell

American illustrator Joy Campbell lives in Winlock, Washington. Has been painting for over 30 years. Now she works in oil, and, of course, cats are her favorite theme of the canvases. Her cats are happy with life, self-sufficient. They are lounging on sofas and tables, playfully look into the eyes and completely control the hearts of people.

Lithuanian artist Norville

Lithuanian artist Norvile (Norvile Dovidonyte, Nora) is the mistress of the red-haired mastermind Elvis. She loves to draw cats, create an inexhaustible source of good mood and a kind smile. Nora creates a cozy, simple life, conveys the funny habits of cute animals. She has long and dearly 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 have long stolen his heart. And now they are stealing the hearts and souls of everyone who stops to admire the transcendent cuteness of Makoto cats. Muramatsu tenderly prescribes each cute muzzle, admires her soft pets. Romantic from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Moskvich Stepan Kashirin

Kashirin Stepan Vladimirovich was born in Moscow. Member of the UNESCO Federation of Artists. On his canvases, cats live like fluffy warm people. They drive cars, arrange gatherings, play weddings. Stepan creates life situations filled with understandable and kind humor. Funny emotions are written on the faces of his cats.

Russian Valery Khlebnikov

Khlebnikov Valery Ivanovich was born in Vyshny Volochek, Tver Region. Now he lives in the Moscow region. Already at the age of three, little Valera drew the first picture. And it was, of course, a cat. His cats are like heavy, kind giants. It's great to cuddle with such a cat and not worry about anything. Valery's works are full of humor, kindness and warmth.

Vladimir Stakheev, born in Leningrad

The painter Stakheev Vladimir Yurievich was born in Leningrad. I have been illustrating for many years. The cats from his graphic series are very graceful, emotional and beautiful. Their faces convey feelings so vividly that the thoughts of seals can be read. Cats are angry, curious, surprised, they want something, they are afraid of something. They are endowed with a bright character.

Vasya Lozhkin from Solnechnogorsk

Vasya Lozhkin was born in Russia, in the city of Solnechnogorsk. He draws with inimitable humor, conveying the emotions of his red cats. Although, as he jokingly admits, he cannot draw. Vasya also admits that his paintings are actually fairy tales with a good ending. So there is hope that there will still be enough sausage for everyone.