Following on from the 2010 Book of Dogs comes the same unflinching and ruthless view of cats. Fat, ‘catwalk’ skinny, flat, philosophical and even schizophrenic - none escape the illustrators unique style.
Ralph Steadman - artist of distinction, caricaturist of brilliance and long-time unsentimental cat-lover here shows us cats everywhere. Cats in furniture; cat dictators; T. S. Eliot cats and Samuel Johnson cats; fashion cats and CATalogues; blot cats; splat cats and fallen-from-skyscraper cats. There are bugs that live on cats and uninvented cats, too. Ranging from the fierce and furious to the whimsical and wistful, the whole world of feline life is here. In a cat book like no other, there is nothing soppy about Steadman's eye as he exposes the heart and bone and sinew of these most independent and lovable pets.
Ralph Steadman was born in 1936. He began his career as a cartoonist and through the years diversified into many fields of creativity. He has illustrated such classics as Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Animal Farm. While his own books include lives of Sigmund Freud and Leonardo da Vinci with Hunter S. Thompson he collaborated in the birth of GONZO journalism, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is also a printmaker and has traveled the world's vineyards and distilleries for Oddbins, which culminating in his two prize-winning books, The Grapes of Ralph and Still Life With Bottle.