A Purr-fect Piece for Harper Halloween Countdown!
Our third day of the Harper Halloween Countdown is not a Charley Harper piece, but an Edie Harper piece! Today we take a look at the paw-some piece Cleopetra:
Edie Harper’s Cleopetra
This piece, while simple, still holds a great sense of beauty and prestige. Cleopetra is a fun play on words in reference to the high paw-er cats held in the times of Ancient Egypt. This adorable black cat sits in front of the great Sphynx, basking in its glory. The tones of the background call to mind the heat and warmth of the Egyptian desert.
The pawsitively charming subject of Cleopetra is a stark black color that overlays the warm background. It wears a beautiful collar that holds various hieroglyphic symbols to represent the Ancient Egyptian language. The collar is colored with gold, red, and blue. Gold was a lavish color, and material, that helped symbolize wealth in Ancient Egypt. Blue was often used to depict the heavens in Egyptian art, which makes sense since cats were deemed representatives of the goddess Bastet who symbolized fertility, music, dance, and so much more. Red was sometimes a symbol of protection and life, but became more in tune with chaos, which makes perfect sense to be on a cat’s collar!
Edie Harper
Edie Harper was an amazingly talented artist who sadly passed away in 2010. She created many works alongside her husband, Charley Harper. Edie dabbled, and mastered, many different mediums, such as photography, painting, sculpture, and lithography. Like her husband, Edie had a deep passion for environmental conservation. This is why a lot of her pieces depict many charming animals.
While Edie liked to create art to celebrate wildlife, she also created a number of prints dedicated to stories in the Bible. These were perhaps her most famous and popular pieces.
A handsome black cat with a festive bow-tie!
Cleopetra is a claw-tastic piece for our Harper Halloween Countdown because of the historical involvement and symbolism of black cats during spooky season. It is also purr-fect to have a black cat highlight today since it is indeed National Black Cat Day!
Black cats are goofy and charismatic animals who make great pets to have around your home. They have a rich history with luck, fortune, and magic. Some cultures believe black cats to be good luck, while others believe the opposite. In England and Ireland, it is considered lucky to have a black cat cross your path, but in the United States, not so much! Historically, black cats were considered good companions for sailors because it was believed the cat would help bring the ship home safely (and catch all the mice and rats on the boat).
Sadly, the middle ages created a stigma against the black cat, saying they were harbingers of Satan and friends to witches. Many people, especially women, who owned black cats at the time were deemed witches, and therefore evil. This unfounded fear still remains to this day, and many shelters will not allow people to adopt black cats in the month of October for fear they will be harmed. Outside of October, black cats are only half as likely to be adopted because people fear they bring back luck and evil into homes, even though that could not be further from the truth!
A goody black cat with claw-tastic hunting skills
Black cats are such charming and friendly animals who make sweat, fuzzy companions! They can be some of the kindest cats around, to both humans and other pets. They are very curious by nature, and playful too! In the summer, a lot of black cats actually turn a rust color if they lay in the sunlight for long periods of time. The light can break down the darker pigments leaving behind a deep red tone. Don’t worry, the black fur will come back after the sunnier months of the year are over!
If you or a loved one has a black cat, make sure to give them some extra love and treats on their national day. Here at Fabulous Frames & Art, we send many pets and scratches to our black cat friends today, and many well wishes to the families who may have lost their dark-furred feline friends. Have a happy National Black Cat Day everyone!
