Millions of Cats
"Cats here, cats there, cats and kittens everywhere,
Hundreds of cats,
Thousands of cats,
Millions and billions and trillions of cats."
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A classic children's book, first published in 1928, written and illustrated by Wanda Gág.
Translated (other language versions), re-edited and colored with watercolor illustrations by Graziele, but preserving the classic lines of Wanda Gág's illustrations.
A little bit about Wanda Gág:
Wanda was born in New Ulm in 1893, Minnesota, the first of seven children.
Grew up under the influence of art from her talented father, Anton Gag, who died in 1908 leaving her mother and siblings in financial difficulties.
Wanda supported her family with her drawings, stories and poems to various periodicals to earn payment when published.
In 1928 she wrote and illustrated Millions of Cats, the book was based on her old world culture and was an immediate success for both the story and her artistic illustrations. She received honors, prizes, and favorable press coverage, Millions of cats received a Newberry Honor Award in 1929 being one of the oldest American picture books still in print.
Considered to be a pioneer in the development in the picture book form, before Millions of Cats, picture books were printed with the text on one side of the page and the illustrations on the other, while Wanda Gág integrated text across a double page spread.
Numerous other children’s books appeared over the next 10 years followed by her diary titled “Growing Pains”.
Wanda died in 1946 at the age of 53. Her artistic and literary legacy continues to grow.
Notable collections of Wanda’s works are at the University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Millions of Cats was listed in 2013 on list of 100 Great Children's Books by New York Public Library.
In 1992, Millions of Cats was featured on the television series Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, narrated by James Earl Jones.
A bronze sculpture of Gág with one of her cats was made in the public library of New Ulm, Minnesota by Jason Jaspersen in 2016.
1928 Edition
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New Watercolor Edition
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Painting
From the first time I read this book, I immediately wanted to paint it, to make a colored version of it.
I made some changes that I thought were necessary in the drawings, but I tried to be as faithful as possible to the original drawing, to respect the authors vision.
I wanted to add something personal without changing the drawings too much, more details about the process of creating and painting this watercolor version are described at the end of the book and a little in the video below.
