The Worcester Art Museum examines “felines and the artist’s gaze.”

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Copyright 2016 Knowledge Unlimited  

The Worcester Art Museum examines  

“felines and the artist’s gaze.”

Cat fanciers are flocking to the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts this 

summer. The museum has mounted a huge exhibition called “Meow.” Visitors can 

play with cats in a museum lounge area, make their own cat art, and learn more 

about these interesting animals. The centerpiece of “Meow” is an exhibition of 

more than 70 cat-focused paintings, prints, and sculptures from the museum’s 

permanent collection. This exhibit, called “The Captivating Cat: Felines and the 

Artist’s Gaze,” looks at all the different ways that cats have been depicted by artists 

through the years. 

  

Two of the best-known artworks in the collection take very different approaches 

to their furry subjects. French artist Gustave Courbet — painted “Woman With 

a Cat” in 1864. It shows a woman in bedclothes holding a fluffy white kitten. Our 

eyes are supposed to be drawn to the woman; Courbet’s model was his mistress, 

Joanna Hiffernan. But our gaze keeps getting drawn back to the playful little cat. 

The other famous work is a lithograph print by Théophile Steinlen called “The Cat 

in Winter.” Steinlen was Swiss by birth, but lived most of his life in France. He was 

extremely fond of cats, and portrayed them in many of his works. The feline subject 

in this lithograph is sprawled across a huge pillow and is staring out at us. Steinlen 

seemed to have a unique ability to capture a cat’s nature and form in his art.

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Copyright 2016 Knowledge Unlimited  

Cats (of all kinds) have inspired artists for millennia.

Artist and writer Desmond Morris once said, “Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs.” 

The exhibit at the Worcester Museum clearly shows us how cats have inspired 

artists for many thousands of years. One of the pieces in “The Captivating Cat” is a 

bronze sculpture that dates from Egypt’s 26th dynasty, which took place from 664 

to 525 B.C.E. The ancient Egyptians revered, and even worshipped, cats. 

Another aspect of the “Captivating Cat” exhibit is the reminder that there is more 

than one kind of cat in the world. Some of the artworks in this exhibit show larger 

felines, such as black panthers and lions. One of these works was painted by a 

Japanese artist in the early 1600s. It shows a powerful image of a tiger painted on a 

series of folding screens. 

Other works in the collection take a more whimsical approach to the exhibition’s 

subtitle, “Felines and the Artist’s Gaze.” One modern drawing by Robert A. Nelson 

shows clothed mice trying to attack a cat with dragon wings. Another well-known 

work in the exhibit is Will Barnet’s 1980 print titled “Meditation and Minou.” It 

shows a deep-thinking human staring at a curious and playful cat. 

One thing most every visitor to the museum can agree on — “The Captivating Cat: 

Felines and the Artist’s Gaze” is the most purr-fect exhibit to wander through on a 

fine summer day.