Women and Pets in Art

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Four representations of women and dogs or cats in art from 1820 to 2004.

Woman with shamisen and cat, Art Institute of Chicago
Woman with Shamisen and Cat by Yashima Gakutei, c. 1820s. Art Institute of Chicago.

By Zazie Todd, PhD

I have been very busy putting the final touches to the second round of substantive edits on my book.

So in lieu of a science post, I thought I would share with you these representations of women and dogs or cats in art that I found when browsing the online catalogue of the Art Institute of Chicago.

It's like an online visit to an art gallery.

The photo above shows Woman with Shamisen and Cat by Yashima Gakutei.

The three below are not in the public domain so you will have to click the links to see them.

I love Woman with dog by German artist Katharina Fritsch.

Also Woman with a dog by Marie Laurencin.

And the last one is Standing Woman with Cats by Alexander Calder.



I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have.

Happy New Year!


This page contains affiliate links.

 Zazie Todd, PhD, is the author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. She is the founder of the popular blog Companion Animal Psychology, where she writes about everything from training methods to the human-canine relationship. She also writes a column for Psychology Today and has received the prestigious Captain Haggerty Award for Best Training Article in 2017. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats.

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