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Germany

KunsthalleKarlsruhe@ZKM
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76135 Karlsruhe
Germany

Catcontent

New viewpoints on 7 art works from the Kunsthalle’s collection

Cats in art

Cats in art

Walter Conz: Interieur with black cat
Jean Etienne Liotard: The sick cat, 1731
Moritz von Schwind: Cat symphony, 1868
Deutscher Meister ?: Still life with dead bird, fruit, flowers and a cat, 18th century
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Interieur with a flower vase, woman and cat, around 1934
Jean-Baptiste Perroneau: Girl with cat, between, 1747 and 1750
Louis de Moni: Salvation of the bird from a cat

The cat as accessory – Walter Conz, who taught at the local art school Kunstakademie Karlsruhe, imagines this animal as part of a cosy interieur.

The tamed predators had their debut in art much earlier than the previous art work: For example, in this etching by the French painter Jean Etienne Liotard, the love for the feline is demonstrated by a doctor carefully examining the cats vital signs.

The Austrian painter Moritz von Schwind takes the love of cats to another level: He dedicated the so-called cat symphony to the conductor Joseph Joachim as he was appointed founding director of the late music school, Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. On the sheet music, notes have been replaced by cats in different positions.

Sometimes cats are also sneakily featured in still lifes: In the background, one can see a cat behind a basket of fruit, flowers and dead birds – might an unfortunate encounter with the cat been their cause of death? Cats are found to be wild and often times unlucky animals.

The famous expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was known to be a passionate cat owner and portrayed them many times. As shown in this sketch, only one stroke suffices to illustrate the animal – here in the bottom left corner.

Depictions of pet and owner are very common, especially of women and their cats as demonstrated in this example of a wealthy and possibly aristocratic young woman with her pet cat. French painter Jean-Baptiste Perroneau emphasises the feline as a domesticated and devoted animal.

In contrast to the tame pet, the cat is shown as a feline predator in this painting by the Dutch artist Louis de Moni: A boy must protect a caged bird from the feisty cat.