Cats in the Kitchen

Artist Nano Reid (1900 - 1981)

Datec. 1952

MediumOil on hardboard

Dimensions39.4 x 58.4 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by Anne King-Harman through the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1957. © The Estate of Nano Reid.

Object number1075

DescriptionThe subject of this painting is indicative of Nano Reid's preference for subjects, which were close to her. In 1941 Reid illustrated Eileen O'Faolain's 'King of the Cats', and the same animals feature in a number of her later paintings. Her humorous depiction of these familiar pets focuses on their distinct personalities. The large cat placed at the centre of the composition appears to be perched upon a kitchen chair. His somewhat malevolent expression suggests that he rules this territory while the other smaller cat, perhaps a kitten, is playing in a corner.

Like much of Reid's work this is set within a very shallow space, and the distortion of perspective owes something to the Cubists, but the overall tone of this work is expressive. The painting is worked in tones of cream, yellow and black, the solid blocks of colour defining the composition. Her style suggests she worked quickly without any preliminary sketches but her work is always underpinned by a strong sense of structure.

Her bird's-eye perspective and the feeling that the objects are moving around the space is rather Chagall-like; however, the sharpness of line is all her own. She was very much an intuitive painter and the energy of her work is like that of the American Abstract Expressionists, but pure abstraction had no appeal for Reid.

(Catalogue Entry [50]: A Century of Irish Painting - Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1997, pp. 157)

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