The pale, textured walls of the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP)’s exhibition hall bear a striking resemblance to the hair of a ginger cat, fittingly fitting for an exhibition titled ‘The Many Lives of the Cat’.
This new exhibition, which opened on November 8 and will run through March 29 next year, “celebrates our dear friends (who) have been on the fringes of South Asian art, rarely in the spotlight,” as the curatorial note says.
Featuring cats on paintings, sculptures, textiles, matchbox covers and postcards, ‘The Many Lives of the Cat’ is an aurophile’s delight, with cats of every shape, size and color welcoming you as you make your way through the gallery.
“We realized that cats have made a lot of appearances across time periods, artists, and materials,” Khushi Bansal, the exhibition’s curator, tells me. “This became the starting point of our exhibition.”
Wall hangings from the late 19th century. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The first artwork that caught our eye is an image of a beautiful black cat wearing a white bow tie, peering out of the white frame with a slightly startled expression in its eyes. “It’s a hand-painted postcard. There’s a squeaky toy in the middle, which makes a sound when pressed,” she explains.
Next to the postcard is a cloth label depicting a child patting a remarkable furry cat, a relic of India’s colonial past. “In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, textile labels were affixed to bales of cotton sent back to India,” she says. “The British took cotton from India, manufactured it, and shipped it back.”
Highlights of the exhibition, which is divided into four sections titled ‘The Lazy Companion’, ‘Thieves and Other Mischiefs’, ‘The Political Cat’ and ‘The Fierce Cat’, include an opaque 18th-century watercolor on paper titled ‘Two Ladies, a Cat and a Parrot in a Palace’; A folio from a 17th-century Deccan manuscript depicting two squabbling cats; Two highly stylized works, ‘Still Life with Fish’ by Jamini Roy, an oil on an acrylic sheet by KG Subramanian and an untitled image of a cat in a sketchbook by Bhupen Khakhar.
Other cultural artefacts, such as Ganjifa cards, a 19th-century wall hanging made of wool and gilt metal, and matchstick labels with cats printed on them, intertwine the artwork, a deliberate attempt to subvert art hierarchy, collapsing the boundaries between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ art. “For example, what does it mean to label a mass-produced matchbox with a miniature?”
Two ladies, one in the palace and a parrot. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
This exhibition has been inspired by the book indian cat By art critic and historian BN Goswami, who died in 2023. “BNG was a dear friend of the organization (MAP) and supported us in incredible ways. We are very grateful and fortunate for that, and we wanted to honor that legacy.”
It’s no surprise that excerpts from the book, which highlight how cats are an integral part of Indian literature, art and mythology, are also part of the exhibition, ranging from Goswami’s commentary on a KG Subramanian artwork to explanations about the symbolism behind the recurring motif of a cat carrying a fish in Kalighat art.
“Essentially, in this painting tradition that emerged around the Kalighat Kali temple of Bengal, the cat with a prawn, fish, lobster or various aquatic creatures in its mouth became a symbol of protest, a satire against the priests. It became an allegory of corruption.”
19th century matchbox label for HA Gaffer | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Khushi hopes the exhibition will spark a broader conversation about the cat’s influence on Indian art and the kinds of stories it communicates.
“Sometimes they’re sly. Sometimes they symbolize strength, or loyalty, and sometimes they’re just there. It’s also about how an artist views a cat and their connection to it.”
Art, after all, is shaped by the social, political and cultural events of a time, and this exhibition, which “gives you a glimpse into society and all the different movements that happen across time and history,” is no different.
Khushi says while history books reduce the past to facts and figures, it is much more than that. “Working with art, you get a sense of what’s really happening to people at that moment, which is very powerful.”
The Many Lives of the Cat will be on display till March 29 at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru.
published – November 14, 2025 05:48 PM IST