I think many of us have at some point seen an image sampled from a vintage Alfred Mainzer Cat postcard (Mainzer was the publisher; the images were painted by Swiss artist Eugen Hurtung).
Recognize the style? Oddly anthropomorphic felines placed in distinctly human situations…
Often, chaos arises.
Ah…they’re incorrigible (I am currently watching a cat in her sixth consecutive hour of napping and increasingly doubting feline willingness to pick up a drill and engage in construction work).
I may send this as my next “get well” greeting:
Some are appropriate for party invitations:
Just wanted to pay tribute to this seminal slice of kitsch history. I captured my images from Card Cow but there is a more official collector site here. Does anyone have originals?
SheWalksSoftly 
8 responses to “Mainzer Cats”
Hahah! Yes, love these! I stumbled across them about a month ago for the first time, googling something like ‘old timey cats’ (I’m obsessed, I know) – brilliant!
Yeah, I love them too. They are just so absurd and kitschy.
WOW WOW WOW is dit nie die mooiste foto’s nie julle lyk stnuinng AMAZING baie goed hierdie fotograaf ken sy storie. Baie gelukkige jare vir julle Baie liefde Riebtte
I love these!
Truly eerie! And how weird is it that many of the cats have pet poodles? And that the poodles are smaller than the cats?
Yes! All of these illustrations feature cats in very un-catlike situations. It’s part of the charm.
My mom collected these postcards as a child. She kept them in an old bread bag. I have many fond memories of sitting for hours mesmerized by the images.
When i was a teen, I saw the bag sitting in the trash! I asked my mom why, she replied that she just didn’t want them anymore. I, of course, scoop them up quickly and put them in a sleeve style photo album.
I never realized, until recently, how many there are that I don’t have, I have around 50 in my collection, which includes mice and dogs. I absolutely love them!
hi, i actually have 5 pieces of original artwork by eugen hartung for the postcards. one of them is the iconic family being photographed. they are so charming!!!