02.05.23 05:02 PM

''Cats are featured in Art throughout the centuries. One of the most famous artists who uses cats as her inspiration is Susan Herbert.

Susan's first book was a collection of 16 masterpieces reworked with cats. It was published in 1990 under the title of "A Cats Gallery of Art" by Thames and Hudson. The book was very well received and she was encouraged to work on more.For her latest book of cats in costume, Susan Herbert turns from masterpieces of the fine arts to the masterpieces of Shakespeare. Painting in her familiar and highly popular style, this imaginative artist presents an irresistible array of well-known characters in the great Shakespearean plays, from the tragic Romeo and Juliet, to the mischievous Titania; from the beautiful Cleopatra to the roguish Falstaff. In thirty-two entrancing paintings, Susan Herbert opens up an unsuspected world of Shakespeare interpreted by cats with all their winning ways. Her many devoted admirers will find this new collection full of the charm, humor and sensitivity of her earlier books; and newcomers to her art will be surprised and enchanted by the finesse she brings to her latest portrait-gallety of cats in unusual guises.

Born in 1945, Susan Herbert did not undergo any formal artistic training before embarking on a career as an artist. Her first job was working at the box office for the Royal Shakespeare Company and during this time, described by Susan Herbert as filled with 'hideous part-time jobs', she used her spare moments to draw and paint as often as she could. Susan Herbert's only period of artistic guidance came in 1973 when she gained a place at Oxford and studied for a term at the Ruskin School. Although now famous for her witty anthropomorphic cats, her early work contained rodents as the subject matter. The creatures were often illustrated on storyboards depicting scenes from operas and Shakespeare's plays.In 1990, following fifteen years of hard work and limited success, Thames and Hudson produced The Cats Gallery of Art which was a publishing phenomenon. She is now a leading and prolific cat artist, with nine books in print: