Lady Aberconway's Cat

This striking image is by CECIL BEATON (1904-1980) of Lady Aberconway's cat, Antonia, Bodnant, 1950. It was up for auction at Christies a few years ago.

And here is about about the lady herself -- a rather fascinating women, she was friends with many famous people of her time including Hugh Walpole, Clive Bell, Virginia Woolf, and King George.

The Black Attendant

Our recent (Summer 2019)  Garden Book Club selection was: Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine S. White. I cannot say that I highly recommend this book to garden readers. The first third was dull as dirt, but it gets better as it goes along. What did strike my interest though was this photo on the very last page:

That missing chapter would likely have made the book a whole lot more readable and relatable, but alas, the lady passed before she had time to write it. The cat, referred to as a "black attendant" is clearly the focus of the photo with the garden and its human mistress as mere backdrop -- as it should be and it leads me to ask: Who then is really the attendant and who the mistress in this setting?

Herman and Vermin

This photo is from the Library of Congress collection and is now in the public domain.

The photo caption reads, "Frances Benjamin Johnston's cats, Herman and Vermin, seated on brick railing of New Orleans house, Louisiana."Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) is the photographer and it was taken around 1945.

If you look closely, you can see a water garden with lily pads behind the cats and what appears to be a coneflower in the foreground.

Vintage Garden Kittens

HARRY WHITTIER FREES (1879–1953) was an American photographer who used his photographs of posed animals to create novelty postcards and children's stories. This collection dates back as far as 1914.

He said of his work: "These unusual photographs of real animals were made possible only by patient, unfailing kindness on the part of the photographer at all times. Speed is essential in securing these pictures, but very often it is impossible to be quick enough." He reportedly had to discard over 2/3 of the film he shot.

On his live animal subjects, he wrote, "the kitten is the most versatile animal actor, and possesses the greatest variety of appeal." We are sure you‘ll agree that the garden kittens are especially enchanting.