Self-trained German painter Max Raffler (1902-1988), whose cat images--well, image--you've been seeing in the upper left-hand corner of this blog, is described in cyberspace as a "naive" or (what else?)"outsider" artist, which leads me to observe that there's nothing "outsider" about genius. Quite the reverse, actually. Here's a good Raffler bio, and though its German-to-English text is a little quirky, it gets the facts across. Our eternal, sarcastic thanks to Max's sisters.
More on Raffler, this time in English: Raffler bio #2. And images of his painting abound in Google Images--just type "Max Raffler" and behold.
I plan to keep a steady rotation of Raffler feline images at this blog, though my folder of scanned images (from a book; no originals, alas) bit the dust along with my late C drive. So I'll be scanning some more. I don't know what I did before I owned a scanner. Well, not scan, I guess. I did a lot of not-scanning.
What not to praise about Max's water colors? The brilliant sense of design, the phenomenally effective use of color, the way that Raffler's creations, despite their static compositions, capture everyday life in motion. I'm terrible at describing art, but I know what awes me. Raffler's cats, people, offices, gardens, flowers, and fields are Grandma Moses crossed with Gary Larson and G. Kliban.
