Seven decades of Walter Chandoha's feline pals

The Internet has always been a great place to find delightful and amazing pictures of cats. Pros and amateurs alike snap and post gazillion images of these furry creatures. But long before kitties ruled both Facebook and Instagran there was Walter Chandoha.

The prolific photographer, who passed away this year at the age of 98, had amassed an archive of about 230,000 photos, his daughter Fernanda estimates, of which 90,000 were of his feline friends. Now these images are gathered together in the new book Cats. Photographs 1942–2018.

As the 296-page hardback explains, Walter's career started in 1949 when he noticed a stray kitten in the snow. He took it home and turned his lens on his new pet. He really liked the results, began photographing cats from a local shelter, thereby kickstarting a remarkable career that would span 70 years.

The images here are excerpted from Walter's book, now available from Taschen. Thanks to Astrid for the tip.

Comments

Enigmatic Shapes and Psychedelic Patterns

To say that I love Sanagi 's work is an understatement. Looking at her art feels sort of therapeutic, and I find her drawings refreshingly intricate. They're trippy, psychedelic, and resemble something that you might see under a microscope. Not much is Googleable about Sanagi, but that's fine. There aren't many artists these days that still pull off the whole mysterious vibe, so I commend her for that. By the way... they're all hand-drawn with pen and ink.

Weirdly Charming

If you’re a fan of art that makes you do a double-take, you need to check out Richard Brener . Based in the UK, Richard is an internationally collected artist who works primarily with ink, fineliners, and gouache. When you first see his pieces, they actually look pretty playful. Then you realize the entire canvas is packed with thousands of tiny, ghost-like shapes he calls "champs." They’re all squeezed together like commuters on a rush-hour train, and the level of detail is honestly mind-blowing. Richard spends hundreds of hours drawing these little guys over and over. It’s obsessive, very intentional, and a little bit wild. The cool part is that the longer you stare, the more the vibe shifts. Check out more photos below:

Hand-Painted Movie Posters by Tony Stella

In the 70s and 80s movie theaters in Manila were usually standalone buildings with nice seats and red curtains. To sell tickets, cinemas needed to advertise their offerings. But they did not have the original posters, or the means to print alternatives. So they made their own, commissioning local artists to hand-paint them. I really miss those hand-painted posters and billboards, which conveyed an artistry that was a form of visual hyperbole. But hand-made objects always have a way of returning. In this digital age, people will always look for things made by hand. I recently stumbled across the work of Tony Stella, whose genuinely cool movie posters have caught the eye of film enthusiasts and art lovers worldwide. He likes to work in watercolor and ink wash but sometimes he will make an oil painting, depending on the film. Tony's very active on social media, and his Tumblr blog contains a massive collection of illustrated movie posters that are often better than the original. ...

finding cain

Search This Blog