Pam’s Pictorama Post: It is threatening to be a hot summer’s day in May today – we are having now you see it, now you don’t warm weather here in Manhattan this spring. We whiplash between our light down filled jackets and sleeveless dresses, and I gather today will be the latter. I am heading to New Jersey to get the dahlias in for the year. They sit out the winter in the garage, tucked in paper bags, but for all the fickleness of the weather I think we are past frost here and I want them to have maximum time to bloom.

After yesterday’s excitement of reviewing Kim’s new book, I am afraid I have created a hard act to follow. I hope this Wain card from the recent postcard show does the trick – a palate cleanser of cat images to get back to the general business of Pictorama.

Upon reflection I realize I was slow to cede to Wain adoration – I resisted for quite a long time (overpriced postcards I remember thinking), but when I fell, I fell hard. I am a Wain addict. Few things dependably make me chuckle than a Wain image even if I have seen them many times before. A few of my past tributes can be found here and here but there are many!

His cat postcard parade is an almost endless variation playing on human foibles and attitudes – sardonic, malevolent, self-satisfied, mystified, distracted for starters. There are types too, fat, thin, businessman, solid citizen, and of course troublemakers galore. For types he is partial to tabbies – those nice decorative stripes I suppose. They can be a variety of shades. Today we have a gray tuxie which seems a bit exotic for him.

Today we have a Raphael Tuck & Sons card with four choral kitties – a cat quartet. Each holds a score which is inscribed, Nothing New Latest New Songs. Starting on the end with our pudgy, contented (self-satisfied?) fellow, gripping his book with both paws. He’s a fat cat in the best sense. (Somehow, we know these are all boy cats, yes?) Next to him is a small and skinny gray tuxedo, sporting a red bow looking a tad waifish, paw on tummy to help him emote. The two on the end are sort of a matched set of two colors of tabby, one has a blue bow for good measure and the music books they hold are a variety of green, red and blue. Each has a singing pose all his own showing his enthusiasm for his chorale endeavors.

When we look closely there is eye color variation and I assume Wain figured he could goose that a bit without anyone noticing – these cats have eyes of yellow, green and blue! They all are looking in different directions too which packs a smidge of action into this small image – and each singing with a different level of enthusiasm. Tails are curled in a variety of ways and directions, whiskers as well as eyebrows help complete the expressions. All these details are what Wain swaps out within his mental inventory of images he uses again and again. Finally, he supplies a sketched in shadow on the ground and nothing else aside from his signature which is sort of a visual element anchoring that side of the card, fat cat tail on the opposite side.

The title below is, The note duly reached in what I assume is Wain’s hand. Below that, in remarkably similar but lighter script someone has written, Hope I shall see you Thursday, Grannie. It was addressed to, Master C. T. Travers, Woolfanger, Warlingham, Surrey. The cancellation year is hard to read but appears to be August 13, 1905. Can I just say, how much fun must it have been to get a postcard like this when you were a kid? Yay for Grannie! Clearly enough that this card has survived more than 120 years.

So I leave you to revel in this smidge of Wain while I pack up my gardening togs and head out shortly. Look for some New Jersey pics on Instagram later.