“Summer: Cat on a Balustrade”
And now, for more cat art…
“Summer: Cat on a Balustrade” is a wonderful oil on canvas painting by the Swiss Art Nouveau artist, Théophile Steinlen, from 1909.
In this painting, Steinlen depicts a tabby cat lounging on a balustrade railing with its left back leg and tail hanging leisurely over the railing. The cat’s bright yellow eyes match the background of the piece, which exhibits bright hues of yellow and yellow green. Leaves in the background provide further evidence of the season described in the title. The cat and railing are painted with exquisite detail, while the background is just gestural. The lighter colors on the left of the canvas brings the viewer’s attention right to the cat’s face.
Steinlen was a true lover of cats and his apartment in Paris was affectionately known as “Cat’s Corner”. His neighbors said that he fed all the stray cats in his quarter. Steinlen’s affection for cats can be seen by the many portrayals of them in his work. He created a number of art pieces depicting cats in all forms (at play, rest, lounging, etc.) and across a wide spectrum of mediums, including lithographs, paintings, sculpture, and drawings. Steinlen’s most famous cat piece is undoubtedly the poster ad for a Parisian cabaret, titled “La tournée du Chat Noir”, which is still widely recognized today.
A number of the original 1909 lithographs of “Summer: Cat on a Balustrade” are in the collections of many museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Jersey.
For more on Théophile Steinlen, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
