Chat et son petit, c.1945
Oil on panel, signed lower left.
33.50 x 48.50 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, France
Exhibitions:
Paul Jouve, Galerie Giraudo, Avenue de l’Opéra, Paris, June 6 – 21, 1946.
Paul Jouve, Société Royale de Zoologie d’Anvers, June 24 – July 12, 1954, no. 84, reproduced p.11 of the catalogue.
Literature:
Charles Terrasse, Paul Jouve, Éditions du Livre de Plantin, Paris, 1948, reproduced p.166.
Christian Eludut, Le Monde animal dans l’art décoratif des années 30, Éditions BGO, Paris, 2007, reproduced p.104.
Vues et images du monde, 1951, reproduced p.23 (photograph).
Certificate of authenticity issued by Mr. Dominique Suisse, artist’s right holder.
Here, Paul Jouve tenderly portrays Mickey and Baby, his two household cats. The animal painter, renowned for the power of his depictions of lions, tigers, and panthers, brought the same attentive and respectful gaze to his domestic companions.
This intimacy contrasts with the more spectacular side of his artistic life: Jouve actually kept a veritable menagerie and even raised two panthers in his Paris studio, which he drew from life. This close contact—sometimes unsettling for visitors—explains the accuracy and intensity of his feline representations.
Thus, between the gentleness of his cats and the majesty of his great wild beasts, Jouve unfolds the full scope of his bestiary, granting each animal—familiar or exotic—its own monumentality and dignity.