John Winters (American, 1904-1983) A Cat May Look at a Fish Signed and dated 1947 bottom left, casein on canvas. 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9cm) PROVENANCE: The Estate of the Artist, Springfield, Pennsylvania. note: This painting features a recurring character in Winters' paintings - the black cat, inspired by his family's pet Figaro. "The black cat was very much influenced by Figaro, who by this time had died. We had in Chicago another black cat during part of the same time, named Buttercup, who I was told was a very sweet soul, with longish fur, who loved flowers and was not particularly bright. It was Figaro, however who captivated them with his very high intelligence, cunning personality, and insistence on behaving as much as he could like a human. Buttercup used a cat pan and ate from a dish on the floor; Figaro would only use the toilet, straddling the seat, and wanted to eat at the table, sitting on a chair and only putting his front paws on the edge of the table. He would not actually climb up on the table as Buttercup did, since people did not do that. As you can tell from this, we're a family that has always indulged our cats (and dogs, guinea pigs, whatever)." - Diane Winters, the artist's daughter See More