The Black Cat


The Black Cat

 


 

As a family gift, I painted this spectrum septet of identical black cats to share, seven separate paintings with the same cat but with different color auras. There are several cat owners among them, but in addition there is a family connection to the name.


Around 1939-40, our Dad worked at the Black Cat, a well known nightclub/roadhouse south of Wilmington. We then lived in a cottage on the grounds. The name was probably inspired by the famous fin de siècle cabaret in Paris, Le Chat Noir.



I was motivated to do this group of paintings in a graphics style by this 1896 poster for Le Chat Noir by Théophile Steinlen that I saw at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond on a visit with my brother Michael and sister-in-law Barbara. Two other influences were the early 20th century graphics of Will Bradley and the late 20th century serigraphs of Berkeley, CA based David Lance Goines.


 

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