"One of the wonderful things about cats is that they come in so many different variations. There is one to fit every decorating style, every pocketbook, every type of personality and every mood. But under their furry coat lurks one of the freest souls in the world." The variety and quality of the works shown in this book attest to the fact that the words of cartoonist Eric Gurney also apply to the depiction of the cat across all artistic epochs.
"Auf leisen Pfoten" offers for the first time a multi-faceted overview of the theme of "The Cat in Art." The book presents a broad range of paintings, drawings, graphic art, sculpture and photography, all featuring the feline motif. The study begins in the 16th century, when the cat was increasingly becoming a popular pet in middle-class European households. This marked the close of an era in which cats had been associated with witchcraft or relegated to the status of mere mouse or rat hunter.
Works are presented by artists including Lorenzo Lotto, Honoré Daumier, Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Pierre Bonnard, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Hans Thoma, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Alberto Giacometti, Francis Picabia, Gerhard Marcks, Georg Baselitz, Martin Kippenberger, Andy Warhol, Les Levine, Patricia Waller, Stefan Moses, Lyonel Feininger, Robert Crumb, Tomi Ungerer, Robert Gernhardt and many more.

Editor: Stadt Karlsruhe, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe
Authors: Erika Rödiger-Diruf, Karl-Ludwig Hofmann, Kiriakoula Damoulakis, Sylvia Bieber, Ursula Merkel

Hardcover with dust jacket
23 x 28 cm
252 pages
156 color- and 41 b/w illustrations
German
available
ISBN 978-3-939583-10-3
29,80 Euro
2006