Lisa Kucharski, product development coordinator, Museum ShopĪrise from sleep, old cat, / And with great yawns and stretchings… / Amble out for loveĪt first glance, you may be surprised to learn that this charming print was created by a native of New York, the American etcher and engraver Helen Hyde (1868–1919). She reaches out to the cat, also white and depicted unclothed-without fur-who reaches back. While slightly echoing Michelangelo’s God touching Adam, here the touch is between two different species connected by life. The woman on the bed, naked and relaxed, is rendered entirely in white. Laziness was a part of Vallatton’s series called Intimacies (Intimités), which by and large captured Parisian domestic life between men and women. Their artwork, influenced by Cezanne, Gauguin, and Japanese prints, is characterized by large swaths of colors and heavy outlines and patterns. Vallatton, who used the medium with inventiveness and elegance to capture scenes of life in 19th-century Paris, was also associated with the group Les Nabis, a brotherhood of artists who moved away from Impressionism toward abstract art and symbolism. Though the artist also painted, he achieved fame during his lifetime as a printmaker, reviving the oldest from of printing in Europe, the woodcut, which had been practiced with such mastery by artists such as Albrecht Durer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. The dramatic use of black and white and strong, simple forms are distinctive features of Félix Edouard Vallatton’s prints. Vallatton’s intimate image resonates with me in that it relates to the way two species can live together in harmony. I have lived with a number of cats from kittenhood to death. To celebrate the presence of these creatures amongst us, we asked five staff members to take their pick of the museum kindle.įull disclosure: One contribution was purportedly written by a cat walking across and laying down on the keyboard. They spend anywhere between a third and a half of their waking hours grooming themselves.Though they nap up to 15 hours a day, they almost never fall into REM sleep.
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