The Cat in Photography [Paperback]

Sally Eauclaire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Cats and photographers, with their shared watchfulness and curiosity, were made for each other. The romance between cat and camera is charmingly apparent in this selection of more than 100 pictures by photographers, photojournalists, and humble snapshooters alike. There are rich, regal cats, like Cecil Beaton's, and poor cats, like the street cats of Weegee; cats in action, like George Balanchine's cat executing a grand jete for its master, and cats in repose. This delightful collection begins with the first daguerreotypes and continues to the present day -- including such greats as Erwitt, Atget, Kertesz, Cartier-Bresson, Weston, Cunningham, and even Avedon. In addition to the images, five engaging essays explore the relationship of the cat to the camera. Elegantly designed, The Cat in Photography is an inspired photographic history and a wry and intelligent gift for cat lovers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Cats and photographers alike must be stealthy, patient, opportunistic, and curious." Proving her point, Eauclaire ( The New Color Photography ) unveils 100 duotones that show cats and their virtues. In Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Shop Window, Lille (Nord)," a white feline kneels and stares, seeming stupefied by a deluge of overhanging underwear for sale in a store. A picture by Eugene Atget, "Cour de Rouen," inserts a cat as a small but delicious element in the design of a dignified, decaying doorway. Almost as satisfying as the photographs included here by Weegee, Andre Kertesz, Eliot Erwitt and Helen Levitt are those by "photographers unknown"--cats held captive for the camera by a couple of grim, prim little girls; a gigantic specimen sprawled safely in the lap of a solemnly protective child. There are also cats putting up with the silliness of fashionable ladies, and a solitary kitten crowded in with four sad children in their rooftop tenement bed. Only a handful of generic fluff, happily, can be found.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...The Cat in Photography had us transfixed. The New Yorker

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811813649
• ISBN-13: 978-0811813648
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,430,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the cover picture dissuade you., September 4, 2000

By 

A. Niebruegge "Selune" (Troy, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cat in Photography (Paperback)

Buy it. Really.

The hard thing about buying books online is that you don't get to see what is inside first. If I had just looked at the cover picture on this book, I don't know if I would have purchased it. But, as it so happens, they had it at a local bookstore.

The cover picture is the goofiest in the book, there are much more serious pictures throughout. It is worth the price alone to get picture #38, entitled "Cat Crossing the Street in Traffic" - 1925 by Harry Warnecke. The picture has a policeman stopping traffic and several on-lookers are watching as a mother cat carries one of her young across the street. It's one of the most touching pictures I have ever seen. It gives you a glimps into not only the love a mother cat has for her kittens, but also the kindness of human nature (something increasingly lacking in today's world). That a police officer would stop traffic for a cat is amazing.

Another whimsical picture depicts an animal shelter worker carrying a box with a cat in it. He is unlocking the door to the shelter, one would assume to put the cat in "jail", but the cat is jumping out of the back of the box to freedom. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

There are a variety of pictures present in this book, some pictures of old, a few pictures that are staged with models (not many of these). Most of the pictures, though, are just candid shots of cats in their environments, such as the children sleeping on a fire escape and one is holding her kitten in her hand. Some are from far off locations such as Israel and Spain. And some are just with people who have an obvious affection and tolerance for the little buggers. :)

It is well worth the price of admission into this whiskered little world.