Magic Lantern Slide- Unimpressed Cat

Description

The art of the 'silly cat photo' so beloved by the internet dates back to the 1870s. Cats have been seen dressed up in suits (one even had a monocle on!) and were often accompanied by silly captions. 

This cat doesn't look at all pleased to be in it's photograph. As an image it lacks technical polish- the shadow of the photographer intrudes into the image. A hand (soon to be scratched, maybe?) holds the unwilling feline still. The whole thing is overexposed. 

While it wouldn't win any awards, snapshots like this are some of the most pure slices of life ever to be recorded. Even better, it is a magic lantern projector slide- it took effort to make it. So someone, somewhere saw the photo and thought 'that is worth keeping'. 

But it probably wasn't the cat.

Identification

Object type

Image

Date

1950s