WHY CATS PAINT

Are cats amazing and intelligent? Without a doubt. But cats as artists? My cat, Leo, has a vast vocal range and perhaps he considers every different utterance a work of art…performance art, if you will. So we shouldn’t be cross when he hollers in the dead of night…he’s expressing himself! When I got the “Why Cats Paint” calendar a few years ago, I was delighted by the photographs and enthralled by the concept. I didn’t think twice about doubting its validity at the time. I never did much research about it, until I recently stumbled across the website for the Museum of Non-Primate Art (MONPA). Is it a spoof? Even though animals haven’t built spaceships, painted the Mona Lisa, developed the theory of relativity, or sliced bread, it’s a fact that animals are capable of extraordinary things. Could artistic expression also be a talent some animals possess?


I’ll take you through what’s on the Museum of Non-Primate Art site, examine the corresponding book, and offer you my thoughts on the subject. Read on! There’s something in this article for all cat-lovers, people-against-pretentious-art-critics, and anyone with a healthy sense of humor.

The “Museum”

The only source online about feline aesthetic expression:The Museum of Non-Primate Art (MONPA). It has a “wing” dedicated to “Why Cats Paint.” There are also sections on “Why Cats Dance” and “Bird Art.” The site offers an online cat art gallery, a brief history of cat painting, tips on how you can encourage your cat to paint, methods for determining your cat’s creative potential, and 2 video clips of a documentary in production about painting cats, featuring a cat artist at work.

About MONPA:
‘Well-known’ Art historian and animal philanthropist Dr. Peter Husard founded the Museum of Non- Primate Art in the mid 1970’s in England, and he and a team of experts studied the digging pattern of moles and the flying formations of birds as performance art. Although there are ‘numerous’ branches of the MONPA throughout the world, their facilities are not open to the public.

The Book

To start, there is a book on feline aesthetics, the only one of its kind, still in print in paperback, by Burton Silver and Heather Busch

Above: cover of Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics by Heather Busch and Burton Silver, published in the US in 1994 by Ten Speed Press,The book claims the first documentation of feline art was when archaeologists excavated rolled papyrus scrolls with clear paw marks in Egypt. Besides the history of feline art, the book profiles some notable cat artists and critiques their work, illustrated with photographs by Heather Busch.

by Heather Busch and , published in the US in 1994 by The book claims the first documentation of feline art was when archaeologists excavated rolled papyrus scrolls with clear paw marks in Egypt. Besides the history of feline art, the book profiles some notable cat artists and critiques their work, illustrated with photographs by Heather Busch. by Heather Busch and , published in the US in 1994 by The book claims the first documentation of feline art was when archaeologists excavated rolled papyrus scrolls with clear paw marks in Egypt. Besides the history of feline art, the book profiles some notable cat artists and critiques their work, illustrated with photographs by Heather Busch. Above: cover of by Heather Busch and , published in the US in 1994 by The book claims the first documentation of feline art was when archaeologists excavated rolled papyrus scrolls with clear paw marks in Egypt. Besides the history of feline art, the book profiles some notable cat artists and critiques their work, illustrated with photographs by Heather Busch.

They also have a book and a 2006 calendar on Why Paint Cats: using cats as a canvas.

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