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…
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…
Cat People: the feline answer to the werewolf genre
In the various cinematic monster universes, cats are a bit of a footnote, barely scratching their way onto the list. Werewolves, vampire bats, mummies, dinosaurs and various sorts of ghosts get all the love, going way back into the silent era. Cats didn’t saunter onto…
The Two of Wands: happy dreams of a wider world
The traditional Rider Waite Smith Tarot (RWS) Two and Three of Wands are somewhat odd cards. In our new cat tarot, we have given the imagery a romantic, and dreamy atmosphere. This is a cat who longs for something larger in her life.
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…
Cats predictably make a startling mark in Japanese prints.
It would be surprising if Japan didn’t have a tradition of dressed up cats doing human things. The island nation does not disappoint, especially when it comes to Japanese prints. Cats seem to have first come on trading ships from China about a thousand years…
Mainzer dressed cats began as whimsical but odd postcards
Cats dressed up and behaving like people have long been on the fringes of pop culture. In the 1940s and ’50s, Mainzer Dressed Cat postcards hit the scene, showing felines in then-contemporary costumes riotously pursuing leisure activities from sports to watching movies, or simply having…
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,…
