Mainzer Cats
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 
August 6, 2011 at 11:55 am
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!
August 13, 2011 at 1:28 am
Yeah, I love them too. They are just so absurd and kitschy.
January 3, 2013 at 11:12 pm
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
August 6, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I love these!
August 8, 2011 at 3:50 am
Truly eerie! And how weird is it that many of the cats have pet poodles? And that the poodles are smaller than the cats?
August 13, 2011 at 1:29 am
Yes! All of these illustrations feature cats in very un-catlike situations. It’s part of the charm.
February 3, 2013 at 3:25 am
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!
April 2, 2013 at 1:20 am
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!!!