Meee‑ow — we’ve tried to round up our affectionate and furry four-legged friends, these cute house cats are obviously valued for their companionship — from snuggling to being a source of entertainment, to even manipulating us with their unique language and their contented purrs. It’s an interesting fact that meowing is a vocalisation just for us, cats don’t actually meow at each other so they use this as a bond between humans and animals.
As we know, the cat shares the title with the dog as the world’s most popular companion animals, however as the saying goes… “dogs have owners, cats have staff”… so the perennial question is “do cats love us or just tolerate us”, either way, their owners loved them enough to capture them with their own unique personalities for us to enjoy today.
Visit both the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art to see how many cats and their wild counterparts you can find… and keep an eye out for their lifelong partner, the dog. We also haven’t forgotten the horse.
Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe ‘Breakfast, Alpha’ 1884
Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe, England/Australia 1850-1928 / Breakfast, Alpha (and detail) 1884 / Watercolour over pencil on wove paper / 25.3 x 35.4cm / Gift of the artist’s son in her memory 1964 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Chinese Style ‘Mandarin pocket’ 1800-1900
Chinese Style / Mandarin pocket c.1800-1900 / Silk embroidered with a cat and butterfly / 8.3 x 8.5cm / Bequest of Dr Ernest Singer 1975 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, Germany 1881-1965 / Sleeping cat c.1920s / Charcoal and watercolour wash on wove paper / 35.7 x 47.4 cm / Purchased 1976 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.
