Edward Gorey (American, 1925–2000)
Seventeen Cats on the Front Steps of 82 Maple Street
No two cats stand, sit, stretch, or snooze quite the same way. A dignified calico tucks her paws neatly under her, while an adolescent tabby lolls like a possum, with feet in the air. Artists realized the infinite variety of these creatures long ago, but in spite of millions of sketches and photos, the inventive cat is always ten poses ahead of them. The relaxed residents of 82 Maple Street were drawn by Edward St. John Gorey, an illustrator and writer whose imagination produced dancing elephants, doomed ballerinas, heaps of lost umbrellas, and far more.
