“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”
- Jean Cocteau
I love Jean Cocteau’s art and he loved cats.
During his lifetime he did not only create a vast amount of illustrations, sculptures and murals of happy cats…Cocteau was also an active member of the Parisian ‘Cat Friends Club’.
He designed a wonderful membership pin for them and eventually even got voted as their Club President.!
Jean Cocteau shared his life with many cats and was quoted to have said:
“I prefer cats over dogs because police cats don’t exist”.
But his most beloved were perhaps a mighty blue Persian named Karoun and a stunning Siamese that went by the name of Madeleine.
Photographer Jane Bown took two portraits of Madeleine and Jean Cocteau at their Paris home.
After returning to London, she sent the prints to Cocteau and he wrote back on December 12th, 1950:
“Rare are they who think of those whose images they carry away.
And so I am very grateful to you.
All the proofs are magnificent.
Madeleine is in ecstasy over the Siamese cat.
All the household embraces you.”
A copy of the original letter that Cocteau sent to Jane Bown.
Karoun was lovingly called ‘the King of Cats’ by Cocteau and he even dedicated his book Drôle de Ménage to him.
You can see Faroun pictured together here with Japanese artist Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita at a Cat Friends Club event in November of 1950.
In 1959, Jean Cocteau decorated the tiny chapel near his house in Milly-la-Forêt with a beautiful fresco.
It was there, that he wished to be buried and if you would visit it now, you could notice that he made sure to be watched over by a friendly feline even after his passing.
You were an inspiration, Madeleine and Karoun!
xez
* Click photographs to enlarge.