How long do we have to wait for you to dig up an image of Goya's kitty in a sink, so that we can determine if we like it better.
I didn't find any Goya cat paintings, but I did find this article about the useful "fur map"...
"When you’re busy painting a cat, it’s all too easy to get carried away and not think about the direction the fur should lie and to paint 'generic' fur."
I painted my cat according to the instructions, but she still hated it. It's really hard to hold the cat with one hand and paint it with the other. Still, it's worth it. Not everyone has a blue cat.
Just don't paint a cat's fur the wrong way. They really hate that.
Turns out that Goya did paint gatos. And look, Rob, they are really pissed about it too!
Let's nor get too tangential about cats. This detail is about a dog - and a particularly sharp piece of dogdom it is. Our little figure, true to his dogness, has total emotional grasp of the situation. But what *is* the situation? What does it mean? ... Well, he's a dog - he feels but he doesn't know. Is *something* going on? Is there something we've missed? Goya absolutely insists upon it.
Damn it! We are an undisciplined bunch of greedy barbarians!!
On first viewing I had a hard time even seeing the dog in the centre shape, mostly because for some strange reason a Spaniel (that I now assume it is) was unexpected. I have a different list of breeds that get flipped onto the picture in my brain when someone says "dog".
I'd go along with your observation about dogs and their emotional grasp, can't easily follow you to the part about not knowing, but you may be right as the perception of animals and their possible cognitive abilities has changed from Goya's time to ours. That said, your interpretation can still be spot on.
This just reminded me of the news images of an elephant right before it drowned during flooding at the Prague Zoo several years ago. The panic in its eyes was heartbreaking.
[it was actually shot by zookeepers when they realized that they couldn't prevent it from drowning]
Daniel C. Dennett seems to think animals and ...children(!) are less conscious that the rest of us. He goes on to say that this doesn't mean it's okay to tease them. I read his statement because Alison Gopnik explicitly positioned her theory on the heightened consciousness of children in opposition to DD.
... and because I am totally on Alison Gopnik's side of this argument, I tease animals and small children.
Amazing, I get a new idol and she permits me to continue my appalling behaviour.
I like what she says about "Conciousness" -- that it will most likely be decomposed into various elements as our knowledge of it grows.
Speaking of conciousness and animals, I'm reading "Our Inner Ape" by Frans De Waal. I previously read his "Chimpanzee Politics". The study of the (other) great apes is a reminder that we're the animal with the coolest toys, but still animals.
Oh thank you Mark! I've been wanting to read a humans&apes book. Just got home from the library where I was thumbing through Goodall, but found I didn't have any stomache for the tales of Flo and Pom.
I first got interested in apes through Goodall/National Geographic back in the late sixties/early seventies -- "My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees". If I remember right, it was in a coffee table format.
A couple of recent reads are "Bonobo: the Forgotten Ape", which is about our kinky arboreal cousins, and "Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees", which about chimps that use American Sign Language.
A theme of Inner Ape is how the Chimp and the (lesser known) Bonobo both shed light on human behavior. I'm only one chapter in, but really like it so far.
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- sally mckay 12-06-2005 6:46 am
How long do we have to wait for you to dig up an image of Goya's kitty in a sink, so that we can determine if we like it better.
- L.M. 12-06-2005 8:03 am
I didn't find any Goya cat paintings, but I did find this article about the useful "fur map"...
- sally mckay 12-06-2005 6:57 pm
I painted my cat according to the instructions, but she still hated it. It's really hard to hold the cat with one hand and paint it with the other. Still, it's worth it. Not everyone has a blue cat.
- rob (guest) 12-06-2005 7:08 pm
Just don't paint a cat's fur the wrong way. They really hate that.
- sally mckay 12-06-2005 7:51 pm
Turns out that Goya did paint gatos. And look, Rob, they are really pissed about it too!
- L.M. 12-06-2005 11:33 pm
Let's nor get too tangential about cats. This detail is about a dog - and a particularly sharp piece of dogdom it is. Our little figure, true to his dogness, has total emotional grasp of the situation. But what *is* the situation? What does it mean? ... Well, he's a dog - he feels but he doesn't know. Is *something* going on? Is there something we've missed? Goya absolutely insists upon it.
- mr. g. (guest) 12-11-2005 10:56 am
Damn it! We are an undisciplined bunch of greedy barbarians!!
On first viewing I had a hard time even seeing the dog in the centre shape, mostly because for some strange reason a Spaniel (that I now assume it is) was unexpected. I have a different list of breeds that get flipped onto the picture in my brain when someone says "dog".
I'd go along with your observation about dogs and their emotional grasp, can't easily follow you to the part about not knowing, but you may be right as the perception of animals and their possible cognitive abilities has changed from Goya's time to ours. That said, your interpretation can still be spot on.
- L.M. 12-11-2005 9:36 pm
This just reminded me of the news images of an elephant right before it drowned during flooding at the Prague Zoo several years ago. The panic in its eyes was heartbreaking. [it was actually shot by zookeepers when they realized that they couldn't prevent it from drowning]
- L.M. 12-11-2005 10:05 pm
Daniel C. Dennett seems to think animals and ...children(!) are less conscious that the rest of us. He goes on to say that this doesn't mean it's okay to tease them. I read his statement because Alison Gopnik explicitly positioned her theory on the heightened consciousness of children in opposition to DD.
- sally mckay 12-12-2005 3:29 am
... and because I am totally on Alison Gopnik's side of this argument, I tease animals and small children.
Amazing, I get a new idol and she permits me to continue my appalling behaviour.
- L.M. 12-12-2005 8:06 am
I like what she says about "Conciousness" -- that it will most likely be decomposed into various elements as our knowledge of it grows.
Speaking of conciousness and animals, I'm reading "Our Inner Ape" by Frans De Waal. I previously read his "Chimpanzee Politics". The study of the (other) great apes is a reminder that we're the animal with the coolest toys, but still animals.
- mark 12-13-2005 1:14 am
Oh thank you Mark! I've been wanting to read a humans&apes book. Just got home from the library where I was thumbing through Goodall, but found I didn't have any stomache for the tales of Flo and Pom.
- sally mckay 12-13-2005 1:38 am
I first got interested in apes through Goodall/National Geographic back in the late sixties/early seventies -- "My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees". If I remember right, it was in a coffee table format.
A couple of recent reads are "Bonobo: the Forgotten Ape", which is about our kinky arboreal cousins, and "Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees", which about chimps that use American Sign Language.
A theme of Inner Ape is how the Chimp and the (lesser known) Bonobo both shed light on human behavior. I'm only one chapter in, but really like it so far.
- mark 12-13-2005 5:02 am