Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1526390
PREFACE TO CRAXTON'S CATS BY ANDREW LAMBIRTH The idea for this book emerged as I got to know John Craxton in the 1990s, and noticed how many cats found their way into his paintings and drawings. John's love of cats was so deeply ingrained that when I suggested putting together a volume dedicated to his depictions of them, he agreed immediately. This was unusual: perhaps out of modesty or self-doubt he tended to resist the idea of books about his ar t, but he welcomed the cat project, and so here it is, finally, in book form. Speaking at his memorial service, Craxton's old friend and collector of his work, David Attenborough, said of him: 'He had a robust sense of humour and an almost unforgivable taste for puns. He produced a series of linocuts for his Christmas card based on that favourite animal of his — the cat. One showed a cat sitting on a column with the caption 'cat-a-pillar'. There were others — which I will leave to your imagination — captioned 'cat-astrophe', 'cat-a-pult' and, regrettably, 'cat-stration'.' Attenborough recognised that cats for Craxton were a source of endless enter tainment: his delight in their antics was both infectious and life-enhancing. The pictures in this book range from the 1940s to the end of his life, and thus offer an indirect account of his stylistic development as well as an informal autobiography. The attentive reader will