The Challenge

We have no idea what size this cat is but we can see that it is angry. Its claws are out, its teeth are bared, its eyes flash and the tip of its tail flicks menacingly from side to side. It is so close to us that we cannot even see all of its body. Is it about to pounce? What stands before it?

 This Scottish artist is famous for her detailed woodcut illustrations particularly for Aesop’s Fables so she obviously likes drawing animals.

She had to cut very fine lines into a block of wood with special tools, then roll ink over the top to make a print.

The Challenge, Agnes Miller Parker, 1934 − © Reproduced by kind permission of Mrs A D Quickenden

Skulls

It is hard to imagine that we all have one of these inside our heads. Here we see the same image printed six times but each coloured differently. The mouths seem to be laughing at us. If they could speak what do you think they would say? People can find skulls either fascinating or frightening – what do you think? 

The artist Andy Warhol was shot and badly hurt which made him think a lot about death. He may have used these bright colours to show that death is not something to be frightened of, but just a part of life. Some people think the shadow on the table looks like a babies face – birth and death together.

Skulls, Andy Warhol, 1976 − © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London 2015

The Chimera of Amiens

This creature with cloven hooves, leathery wings and the face of a beast, sits on high stretching its neck to see right over the city. How strange it would look if it could stand up. But who can see it up here, way above the rooftops? Why is it up there?

This chimera is a gargoyle that sits on top of a cathedral in France. It acts as a rainwater spout but is also said to guard the building from evil spirits.

Cameron painted mainly landscapes and cityscapes and was appointed King’s Painter in Scotland in 1933.

The Chimera of Amiens, Sir David Young Cameron, 1910