Krazy Kat: the oddest love story in comics, part 2
Krazy Kat was off and running, and it began to be noticed by reviewers and other artists. The public remained lukewarm, preferring more conventional strips and animation. Magazine editor and cultural critic Gilbert Seldes was among the first to call Krazy Kat art. In his…
Hey diddle diddle, a cat and a (stupendously rare) fiddle.
A rare fiddle was at the heart of Fritz Purrski’s performances A hush always descends over the house for the third act in “Smitten by the Kitten”. The slightly trite love story of a noble indoor cat falling for a feral street urchin comes to…
Authentic answers to the best questions about this purr-vocative project! FAQs.
We hope that gathering all of the most frequently asked questions that we get about The Bohemian Cats Theatre Tarot into one blog post will be helpful. But if you have other queries, do please feel free to get in touch. Is this a new…
Krazy Kat: the oddest love story in comics, part 1
One of the oddest relationships in comics has to be Krazy Kat and Ignatz. Illustrator George Herriman’s tragic and long-running tale of unrequited love between a black cat and a white mouse began in 1910 and lasted for almost three and a half decades, not…
And now… a new Chariot descends from on high, with striped cat, leopards and a starry sky.
Our lavish new Chariot card has an operatic drama – and leopards! The new Chariot card for The Bohemian Cats Theatre Tarot came about because of inspiration from a film. When we saw the Aria of Dario scene from “Farinelli” (the link is below), we…
A surprising Seven of Swords: furtive feline felony unmasked!
The crafty bulldog in the Seven of Swords hopes his disguise will go unnoticed. The curtain rises on the Seven of Swords scene in our Bohemian Cats’ Theatre Tarot and, my goodness, surely this is not actually a cat? In fact, our image features a deceitful…
The Knight of Cups seeks destiny in a mysterious quest
Our Knight of Cups rides out on a quest for inspiration and creativity The Knight of Cups is one our our favourite tarot cards to design – he (or she) is such a romantic, creative and fanciful character. So envisioning the Knight of Cups card…
Japan’s supernatural cats: watch out for the evil bakeneko
The land of Hello Kitty is home to a bevy of cats that can transform into human shape. Do you know about Japan’s supernatural cats? Everyone is aware of werewolves and vampire bats, but evil supernatural cats seem rare. Except in Japan. That island nation has two…
The snarling Knight of Swords makes a scary attack!
The Knight of Swords is the most aggressive of the Tarot Courts. All the Knights of Tarot are, in their own way, dramatic figures. But only the Knight of Swords also has the power to scare. Traditionally, this card is about someone who is clever…
Iceland’s Yule Cat pounces on people who lack a new scarf
The legend of a cat who enforces the winter dress code has leapt beyond Iceland’s borders. A lot of people are now familiar with Krampus, a goat-like demon that comes around during the holiday season to punish bad children in Central Europe. But in Iceland, the Yule…
Our Knight of Wands seizes the spotlight in a diorama.
Lights, theatre, action! A diorama brings our dashing Knight of Wands to life. We’re working on the Knight of Wands, the Knight of Cups and the Knight of Swords now. As you may remember, the much more cautious Knight of Pentacles is already completed. As…
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain: a film review
A film shines light on the life of an overlooked and troubled artist. In the modern era, amusing pictures of dressed up cats engaging in typical human activities had their start with Victorian artist Louis Wain. His rather troubled life is outlined in The Electrical…
The Fool – how to depict a free and feckless feline?
The Fool is one of those cards that everyone has an opinion about. In the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) Tarot, he is shown as someone smiling blithely as he steps off a cliff. He (or indeed, she) is reckless, in some ways thoughtless, and yet…
Black cats for great luck? Some people think so.
Black cats have an undeserved bad reputation and have the hardest time of any color of cat in getting adopted from shelters. Yet almost two dozen cat breeds come in an all-black variety, with the Bombay cat coming only in black, so it seems some…
Slow but sure on his hobbyhorse. The cautious Knight.
Some people find the Knight of Pentacles (or Knight of Coins as he was known prior to the Rider Waite Smith “RWS” system of Tarot) slightly boring. Compared to the dynamic Knights of the other three tarot suits, he can certainly seem less exciting. However, we…
How to make inspiring Hermit card? Shine a light in the forest.
For The Hermit card in the new Bohemian Cats’ Theatre Tarot, we wanted quite a spectacular look. Sometimes this card can be, in visual terms, a bit predictable so we wanted to add richness and also enhance the meaning for our rather distinctive cat tarot.…
Aiming for an amazing Two of Pentacles – a hopeful harlequin juggler.
The Two of Pentacles is is a tarot card that we always enjoy designing because there are so many possibilities for conveying the broad idea of juggling a lot of things at once! We knew almost immediately that we wanted to show a cat in…
A scary feline – it’s the Cat Devil puppeteer.
We wanted this Cat Devil card for The Bohemian Cats’ Theatre Tarot to be full of symbolism and with a depth of meaning. After much thought, we turned to a very old table-top theatre that we bought from Austria, and two Czech puppets from Antonín Münzberg, a good,…
Anthropomorphic felines: our love of cat stories.
The Bohemian Cats images that we are currently making at BabaBarock are a new approach to the very old tradition of anthropomorphic felines. Today, we think nothing of seeing a cat dressed up, walking on hind legs and talking. They can be seen in animated films, cartoons,…
The Bohemian Cats’ Theatre project – new beginnings
The original Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot and the Bohemian Cats picture book date all the way back to 2003/4 and has been through several versions since. We’ve always loved living with cats and it came naturally to us to build to make an entire fantasy…
