History of Art and Design: The Aesthetic Movement

.The year is 1850 something or another, and Japan is about to get the culture shock of its life. That culture shock being America forcing Japan to open it's tiny floating world up for the rest of the world to find out what its secrets were. Japan has been a bit of an obsession of my own since I was around 10 and watched probably way too many cartoons. It stemmed from anime and manga and eventually evolved into this curiosity about Japan, even now as it is sometimes the country as a whole feels like one huge mystery. It's always also been one of the greatest places for illustration and art in general, it could be seen as the smartass of the world. It was smart, and it was good, and it's always known its been good. So to hear about Japonism in the 1800s was no surprise to me, the west has always had a weird obsession with the east, or perhaps its just an obsession with what seems so unattainable, and an entire country blocking itself off was the perfect little treasure trove for western artists to unlock and discover. 
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For the two pieces of art I decided to compare I took a look at a book on Japonism and found a section that took my fancy. That section being cats. What really took me by surprise was the Theophile Steinlen poster of Le Chat Noir being so influenced by the way Japan drew cats. It doesn't seem that obvious at first, but when I took a look at everything else that was cat related during the 19th centure seemed the same as everything else you would think of when it comes to a classical painting. The lines for the poster of Le Chat Noir are very flowing like it was done with a paint brush, the sharp claws of a cat reminded me of the way Japanese artists always drew the claws of a demon, and that linked up with what Japan thought of cats in general. Apparently in Japanese folklore Japan thought cats were in fact demons, or oni. As well as being demons at night they would become young women that would probably seduce every man within sight, sort of like a cat does when it feels like being affectionate. The other part of the drawing that is similar to the characteristics of the Japanese art was the face. It definitely does resemble a cat but there's something almost quite evil about it in both the poster art and the original Japanese art it's almost as if they knew from the start that cats are definitely going to take over the world at some point within the near future. 

Now as for this piece of art which is called Contentment by Henriette Ronner-knip. It's very well painted, it is what the title says, I do feel all... ah yes, adorable as I stare at it but it doesn't convey the mischief of a cat, or even the expression and the fluidity of Japanese art. Its a very still moment, and I know what cats are like especially as kittens, they never stay that still for that long without doing something to anger you, it doesn't capture fully the essence of movement with a cat.