‘Cat’ Giclée Print by John Craxton

Giclée print, one of an edition of 250. Printed on 310gsm thick, 100% cotton rag. Hand-numbered and hand-embossed.

At John Craxton’s Memorial Service, David Attenborough – friend and collector of the artist’s work – said of him: ‘He had a robust sense of humour and an almost unforgivable taste for puns. He produced a series of linocuts… based on that favourite animal of his – the cat. One showed a cat sitting on a column with the caption ‘cat-a-pillar’. There were others…..captioned ‘cat-astrophe’ [and] ‘cat-a-pult’. But Craxton also knew his cats – their inner lives.

Here we have startled cat, caught in the act, about to nab the morning’s catch. Is it guilt or indignation depicted across this feline’s face?