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Curious Cats - in Art and Poetry (Art Ebook)
Curious Cats - in Art and Poetry (Art Ebook)
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In Art
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Poetry
Yes the Rum Turn Tugger is a
Curious Cat —
And there isn't any call for
me to shout it:
For he will do
As he do do
And there's no doing
For he will do
As he do do
And there's no doing anything about it!
Except where noted, the works of art depicted in this book are from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
COVER: Cat (detail), Toko (Oide Makolo), Japanese, 1841-1905, Ink and colors on silk, I4\ x I I in.
ENDPAPERS: The Harrowing Tale of a Cat and a Guinea Pig, A Terrible End to a Goldfish,
More Bread Than Butter!, The Cat and the Frog, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, French, 1865—1923,
Photorelief etchings from Des Chats: Images Sans Paroles QCats: Pictures Without Words), 1898
TITLE PA6E: Little Grey Cat, Elizabeth Norton, American, 1887—?, Printed color woodcut, 5!i x 4% in.
COPYRIGHT PAGE: Two Cats, Felix Vallolton, French, 1865-1925, Woodcut front Pan, 2'A x 2'A in., 1895
BACK FLAP: A Terrible End to a Goldfish (detail), Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, French, 1865-1923,
Photorelief etching from Des Chats: Images Sans Paroles (Cats: Pictures Without Words), 1898
BACK COVER: Poster calendar cover, Edward Penfield, American, 1866—1925, Commercial lithograph poster, 14 x 1 0's in., 1897
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Atheneum Books for Young Readers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
For acknowledgments of the use of copyrighted material, please see page 48.
First Edition
[I. Cats— Poetry. 2. Cats in art. 3. Poetry— Collections.] I. Lach, William, 1968- .
J
PN6110
.C3
C37
1999
CONTENTS
T. S. Eliot from The Rum Turn Tugger I
Introduction 7
John Ruskin from Dame Wiggins of Lee and Her Seven Wonderful Cats 30
Credits 48
t^ 5*^
BAD8ERED CAT.
May Beljort
And, with soft fur, sharp whiskers, and golden eyes, the luxurious cat described in
Jang'hi Yi's poem seems to stare out at us from the Indian watercolor next to it.
In what distant deeps or skies When the stars threw down their spears,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? And water'd heaven with their tears,
What the hand dare seize the fire? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
And what shoulder, & what art, Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? In the forests of the night,
And when thy heart began to beat, What immortal hand or eye
What dread hand? & what dread feet? Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The Tyger
William Blake, English, 1757-1827
From Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1789
Relief etching printed in color, 4% x 2% in.
—
So lazy it appears,
10
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1
She Sights a Bird
She sights a Bird —she chuckles
She flattens —then she crawls
She runs without the look of feet
Three little kittens lost their mittens; The three little kittens found their mittens;
That we have lost our mittens." See, we have found our mittens!"
Then you shall have no pie!" And you may have some pie."
"No, you shall have no pie." Oh, let us have the pie!
14
The three little kittens put on their mittens, The three little kittens washed their mittens,
And soon ate up the pie; And hung them out to dry;
Shut up in a cage,
Lives a life
Of smothered rage.
Roaming free,
Is happy as ever
18
„v
Three Cat Haiku
sleeping.
My cat,
%
The big cat
21
The Owl and the Pussy-cat
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
You are,
You are!
22
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
23
The Mysterious Cat
I saw a proud, mysterious cat,
I saw a cat
— 'twas but a dream,
I saw a cat
— 'twas but a dream
Who scorned the slave that brought her cream
Mew, mew, mew
25
—
%
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?
"I've been to London to look at the queen."
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you there?
35,
26
i
from Ode to the Cat
There was something wrong
with the animals:
their tails were too long, and they had
unfortunate heads.
Then they started coming together,
little by little
Statue
Egyptian, Dynasty 26 or later (664-30 B.C.
Bronze, H. 11 in.
29
from Dame Wiggins of Lee
and Her Seven Wonderful Cats
The rats and mice scared And they all washed their faces
Woodcut
Kate Greenaway, English, 1846-1901
From Dame Wiggins of Lee and Her Seven Wonderful Cats, 7% x 4%<. in.
30
from The Cat
and the Cock
Chanted: "Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Kiki-riki —Kuk-ru-koo !
"
33
Nipping Pussy's Feet in Fun
Oh Mr. Pussy-Cat
Mrs. Mouse
Come out of your house
It is a fine sunny day
And I am waiting to play.
Detail oi a handscroll
34
from A Fable of the
Widow and Her Cat
A widow kept a favorite cat,
37
Kilkenny Cats
— Traditional
38
T ?
«
»
Poem
As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
forefoot
carefully
the empty
flowerpot
See the Kitten on the wall, Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!
Sporting with the leaves that fall, First at one, and then its fellow
Withered leaves — one — two — and three Just as light and just as yellow;
From the lofty elder-tree! There are many now — now one
Through the calm and frosty air Now they stop and there are none:
Eddying round and round they sink In her upward eye of fire!
From the motions that are made, Now she meets the coming prey,
To this lower world descending, Now she works with three or four,
— But the Kitten, how she starts. Far beyond in joy of heart.
42
The Spring Is a Cat
45
from Jubilate Agno
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For he keeps the Lords watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
46
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CREDITS
Except where noted, the works of art depicted in this book are from the collections
of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cover: Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift
of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell
Mrs. Edward C Moen, 1961 61.687.12. Title page: Gift of Elizabeth Norton, 1928
Contents page: Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1970 1970.565.450. Page 6: Gift of Bessie
Potter Vonnoh, 1941 41.12.1. Introduction: Gift of Mrs. John Fiske, 1960 60.714.
Page 8: Rogers Fund, 1917 17.10.42. Page 11: Fletcher Fund, 1947 47.18.9. Page
12: The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 49.7.41. Pages 14-15: Gift of Kathanne
Keyes, in memory of her father, Homer Eaton Keyes, 1938 38.157. Page 16: Gift
of Bessie Potter Vonnoh, 1941 41.12.19. Page 19: Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn,
1951 51.112.5. Page 20: Rogers Fund, 1914 JP 60. Pages 22-23: BM PD 1838-
5-14-2, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Page 24: Museum Accession, 1943.
The Cat That Walked by Himself
Page 27: Gift of Miss Fairchild Bowler, 1965 65.518.15. Page 28: Harris Brisbane
Rudyard Kipling, British, 1865-1936
Dick Fund, 1956 56.16.1. Page 31: Museum Accession, 1921 21.36.97. Page 32: From just So Stories for Little Children, London, 1902
Gift of FongChow, 1959 59.190. Page 35: Fletcher Fund, 1937 37.119.1. Page
36: Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962 63.550.159. Page 39: Museum Accession,
1957 57.627.9(26). Page 40: Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1966 66.242.23. Page 43: Rogers Fund, 1956
56.129.2. Page 44: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915 30.95.174, no. 26. Page 47: Rogers Fund, 1930
30.4.1. Credits page: Rogers Fund, 1974 1974.617.6. Back flap: Gift of Mrs. Edward C. Moen, 1961 61.687.12. Back cover: Gift of David
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint the copyrighted matenal listed below. Excerpt from "The Rum
Turn Tugger," by T. S. Eliot, from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, copyright © 1939 by T. S. Eliot and renewed 1967 by Esme Valerie Eliot,
reprinted & Company and Faber and Faber Ltd. "A Lion," by Langston Hughes, from The Sweet and Sour
by permission of Harcourt Brace
Animal Book, copynght © 1994 by Romana Bass & Arnold Rampersad, Administrators of the Estate of Langston Hughes, reprinted by permis-
Robert Hass, translation copyright © 1994 by Robert Hass, reprinted by permission of The Ecco Press. Excerpt from "Ode to the Cat," by
Pablo Neruda, from Odes to Common Things, copyright © 1994 by Pablo Neruda and Pablo Neruda Fundacion (odes in Spanish); compilation
and illustrations © by Ferris Cook; odes (English translation) © by Ken Krabbenhoft, reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company.
Excerpt from "The Cat and the Cock," by Vikram Seth, from Beastly Tales from Here and There, copyright © 1991 by Penguin Books India,
reprinted by permission of the author. "Nipping Pussy's Feet in Fun" and "Cat Asks Mouse Out," from The Collected Poems ofStevie Smith,
copynght © 1972 by Stevie Smith, reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. and James MacGibbon. "Poem" (As the Cat),
by William Carlos Williams, from Collected Poems: 1909-1939, Volume 1, copyright © 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp. and Carcanet
Press Ltd, reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. and Carcanet Press Ltd. "The Spring Is a Cat," by Jang'hi Yi, translated
by Chang Soo Ko, from Best Loved Poems of Korea (Seoul: Hollym Corporation, 1984), reprinted by permission of the translator.
48
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
•atei
THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART
New York
ATHENEUM BOOKS
FOR YOUNG
READERS
Simon £k Schuster
New York
s
§
mtmmmtmmim-
OSIER
Published by
RH.Russell CsfSon
NEW YORK.
ISBN 0-689-83055-6
90000>
9 780689"830556