The Black Cat

Richard loved animals, from his first pet rabbit to later dogs and cats. In his early diaries, when he was at the Slade, and far from his Yorkshire home, he says how he misses the animals. Dogs often appear in his paintings, but this picture is more about the feeling of " holding " a cat. The girl's face is all but obliterated, as she concentrates on the experience. When I lived away, on the phone he would always enquire first " How are the cats?" They were important to us too.