Cats & Dogs at NGV Australia

Throughout history, cats and dogs have held a special place in human hearts. They’ve enriched our lives with affection and companionship, assisted us as working animals, and played significant roles in spirituality and religion.

In tribute to these deep connections, Cats & Dogs, a new exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, also reveals the extensive influence our four-legged friends have had on visual culture.

Through more than 200 objects drawn from the gallery’s collection – including painting, sculpture, photography, design and fashion – Cats & Dogs shows how pets have inspired artists and designers since antiquity.

The show’s layout leans into the classic question “Are you a cat person or a dog person?” by splitting the gallery in half, with felines on one side and mutts on the other.

Highlights include a collection of carved wooden camp dogs, or “Ku”, by Aurukun artists from Far North Queensland; one of Jeff Koons’s unmistakable balloon-poodle sculptures; works by acclaimed painters, from Rembrandt van Rijn to David Hockney; and an animal-inspired garment by Alexander McQueen.

Many of the artworks delve into layers of social history – like artist Atong Atem’s Maria of Mars (2022), which takes the 16th-century tradition of painting women with their lapdogs to signify wealth and recontextualises it to explore contemporary migrant identities.

The iconic Chat Noir poster by Parisian designer Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, meanwhile, captures the spirit of one of Paris’s most exotic nightclubs of the late 19th century through the sharp gaze and curling tail of a silhouetted feline.

As well as the cuddles, nuzzles and tail wags they provide, this exhibition shows us the charming, insightful lens cats and dogs can offer us for viewing the world.

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