Cats are good at hiding. This is probably why, in our human stories, we like to anthropomorphise cats and imagine they are in disguise. This probably accounts partly for why cats are the number one suspect when it comes to witches’ familiars. Humans have the ability to ‘know’ something is there, even if there is zero evidence, e.g. witches. We also have the ability to attribute intent where none is there; a bug in our comparatively advanced cognitive empathy.
Anton Seder Die Pflanze Naturalistischer Teil pl 138 (1886-87) catKagayama Hakuho, Byobu with Cat Lazing in a Summer garden,1920 – 1930
A Cat Named Swan, Holly Hobbie
Bernard Kliban
Bruno Liljefors (1860 – 1939)
Various cats minding their own business in nature
Carol Barker, 1964 cat
Ronald Searle’s Cats, 1967 Cat of a thousand disguises concealing itself as a rugThe New Yorker Cover – January 15, 1979 – Ronald Searle, this time disguised as a cushion (sort of)Bernard Kliban (American, 1935-1990), Halloween Cats in masksBernard Kliban (American, 1935-1990) Halloween Cats
Satoko Watanabe
Remedios Varo – The Fern Cat (El Gato Helecho), 1957
