the last cat supper
Before I leave my office for the day, there is one thing I must share at you, via Xkot. I don't know whether to damn him or thank him for this link.
Walter Potter: A case of curiosities
Back in the 1800's, Mr. Potter (I'n hoping he's not relation to Beatrix because that would be way too creepy) took taxidermy to a new level. He posed dead animals to make art.
Dead. Animals. Art. That's right.
click for the larger, more disturbing image
Yes, those cats are stiff. This is so many shades of wrong I can't even find words for it. Can we say issues?
He doesn't stop at cats, though the dead cat wedding is interesting. There are rabbits and rodents and I think I saw a cow before I freaked out and hit the back button.
These pictures beg for new nursery rhymes to be made.
(Thanks to everyone who hit the tip jar today. I have enough to buy two bottles of tequila so far! Party at my house!)
Comments
Taxidermists freak me out in general, but I don't think what he did was wrong. The animals weren't killed for this purpose and it seems better to preserve them in a beautiful way then to use them as stew meat.
The weirdness is that he posed the animals and set them in such unnatural ways. It eliminates the scientific and educational value of preserving the animals but at the same time the artistic quality of it really is hard to deny. Exactly like a Beatrix Potter book come to life and frozen in place.
The monkey on the goat is the most intersting one. I can't call any of them favorites but that one certainly makes me want to see it in person.
Posted by: Ciscley | December 20, 2002 04:21 PM
Party? I'm on my way!
Oh wait, no. I'm on my ass.
Posted by: Juan Gato | December 20, 2002 04:26 PM
They ROCK!!!!! Maybe now we know the inspiration for those dogs playing poker paintings.
Posted by: JohnO | December 20, 2002 05:10 PM
at least he was doing it in the 1800's. we could always excuse him because he was, i don't know - backwards (and there's no one alive to defend him! HA!)
on the other hand, this person has no excuse.
Posted by: mike | December 20, 2002 05:48 PM
Mike:
OMG! I was liking the site till I saw that...
Posted by: JP | December 20, 2002 06:03 PM
I saw this link on someone else's site a week or so ago. Very freaky!
Posted by: Sunidesus | December 20, 2002 06:47 PM
Just went to the link in Mike's comment... YIKES!!!
How can anyone do that to such a beautiful story? That just ruins the Alice books! Why, I beg you, Why?!?!?!
Posted by: Sunidesus | December 20, 2002 06:55 PM
i'm going to try very, very hard to forget what i just saw when i clicked mike's link.
pass the tequila please.
Posted by: kd | December 20, 2002 08:34 PM
Party? I'll be there with the other Bitches in tow!
Posted by: Bitter B. | December 20, 2002 09:46 PM
did you ever think you'd see 'mixed media assemblage: - silk, pre-mature kittens '. talk about found art. and at $1700 it's quite the bargain.
my raised-by-an-artist brain saw the '8/2002' and immediately thought '8 out of 2002??!! this is a limited edition??!!'
then i wised up.
Posted by: mike | December 20, 2002 10:22 PM
Do I ,like,need to get out more?
Posted by: mbruce | December 20, 2002 11:53 PM
What about the shoes for your kids!! ;oP
Posted by: Maria | December 21, 2002 03:53 AM
"hoping he's not relation to Beatrix because that would be way too creepy"
Read this and this. She boiled and dissected Peter Rabbit.
Posted by: Eeksy-Peeksy | December 21, 2002 11:21 AM