Cat Art Past and Present | Feline Appreciation on Hug Your Pet Day

✓Showcase your talent and win big in Artists Network prestigious art competitions! Discover competitions in a variety of media and enter for your chance to win cash prizes, publication in leading art magazines, global exposure, and rewards for your hard work. Plus, gain valuable feedback from renowned jurors. Let your passion shine through - enter an art competition today!

Inagaki Tomoo | Artist's Network | Drawing Cats — ***Cat Gathering (Night)*** by Inagaki Tomoo, 1957, color woodcut. All artwork courtesy Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

A Meow-Centric Look at Painting, Prints and More

Cat lovers rejoice as we show celebrate cat art! Cat artworks span thousands of years and over the centuries have come in all forms including painting, sculpture and prints. From the slinky Art Nouveau depictions to whimsical abstractions to scary and stalkerish kitties, cats are as inspiring as any other subject and deserve a bit of tribute. Enjoy!

Mid-Century Modern Cat

Cats were especially attractive to mid-century Modernists such as Charley and Edie Harper and Inagaki Tomoo. The feline’s quintessential character traits and exquisite form have been depicted using a variety of painting, printmaking and sculpting techniques into compelling, colorful works of art.

Edie Harper | Artist's Network | Drawing Cats — ***Summer Watch*** by Edie Harper, 1981–1982, color screen print.

Ancient Cat Art

Cat art that spans thousands of years? It’s true. Cats were even affiliated with the divine, most strikingly in the art of Ancient Egypt. Cats, lions, and other feline creatures play pivotal roles in Egyptian mythology, kingship, and everyday life.

Cat Art: Cat's Head, 30 BC to third century AD Bronze, gold. Brooklyn Museum — Cat’s Head, 30 BC to third century AD Bronze, gold. Brooklyn Museum

If you are ever in Brooklyn, New York be sure to check out the Brooklyn Museum’s world-famous Egyptian collection, which includes at least 80 different representations of cats.

Rembrandt | Artist's Network | Drawing Cats — ***The Virgin and Child with a Cat and Snake*** by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1654; etching.

Fancy Cats

Big name artists flock to the feline for inspiration and have done so for several centuries. Durer, Rembrandt and Goya among others have all put their hand to capturing the cat in all its permutations. In Albrecht Dürer’s Adam and Eve a sly and stalking cat is caught in the moments before it springs on a mouse. Rembrandt van Rijn’s Virgin and Child with a Cat and Snake shows a quiet and cozy domestic moment. Francisco Goya produced a much more sinister cat in his dark artwork, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. John Sloan depicts a tenement situation in A Woman’s Page, featuring a completely different type of cat.