MARY FEDDEN. TABBY CAT IN MOONLIGHT. 2006. FOR SALE

MARY FEDDEN ARTWORK FOR SALE. TABBY CAT IN MOONLIGHT. 2006

FOR SALE

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Size unframed: 7″ x 7″ / 18cm x 18cm

Size framed: 16″ x 16″ / 41cm x 41cm

Medium: Gouache on handmade paper

Signed and dated: “Fedden ’06”

Framing: New fine quality gilt moulding frame, hand painted, with cream mount. Glazed

Provenance: From an exceptional private collection of Mary Fedden paintings

MARY FEDDEN ARTWORK FOR SALE. TABBY CAT IN MOONLIGHT. FOR SALE

Mary Fedden and her husband Julian Trevelyan are widely celebrated for their lifelong love of cats which became a signature subject of Mary’s whimsical, distinctively styled paintings.

Her artwork frequently combined bold, flat shapes, rich textures, and naive patterns to transform their family pets and objects into poetic, magical scenes. Cats, frequently tabbies, were a constant source of comfort and creative inspiration throughout her career, often depicted lounging on windowsills, sitting alongside a vibrant fruit-laden table, or dozing before moonlit landscapes.

Unfortunately, I can’t say exactly which much-loved cat is depicted in Tabby Cat in Moonlight. Mary and Julian both frequently painted their cats – I have paintings depicting Tom, Susie and Lulu, amongst others, but none of these are tabbies. There were also Paul and Alice, but alas I couldn’t tell what type of cats these were. It’s a mystery!

In the 1990s Mary began working on a series of illustrations for Susannah Amoore’s children’s book Motley the Cat. Motley was an enormous tabby cat with a scarlet collar and lime-green eyes. Mary brought Motley the Cat to life using a vibrant, flat perspective and her signature eye for bold colour. The original pencil and gouache illustrations for Motley the Cat were mostly sold at a celebrated auction of Mary and Julian’s work at Sotheby’s in 2016. They all sold for three or four times their original auction estimates.

Tabby Cat in Moonlight is a small but perfectly formed example of Mary’s cat paintings. It is well presented in a new gilt and cream frame behind glass and is in excellent condition.