The Egyptian Cat in The St. Louis Art Museum

The proud, sleek bronze “Cat”, named after the Egyptian goddess Bastet has already lived at least six of her nine lives. She was born during Egypt’s Saint Dynasty, between 664 BC and 332 BC. M. Dettori, a collector from Alexandria, took her home in the early 1900s. Sage remembers a few whispers at cocktail parties that she was being held captive by the German government. In 1920, she was released and sold to a New York collector who sold her to the Brummer Gallery in 1937.

The Depression continued to wreak havoc. St. Louis was $2 million in debt that year, despite our efforts to help the poor. The Times noted that St. Louis, with its population that values conservatism and thrift, doesn’t like being in debt.

Thus the catfight. The bronze was so appealing that the Saint Louis Art Museum gave the Brummer Gallery 14,400 for “Cat.” Louis Post-Dispatch, and St. Louis Star-Times. One person suggested that the museum’s entire collection be sold and that the museum commissioners be displayed for 25 cents each. One other hoped all cats would gather at the homes of the commissioners and yowl throughout the night. Union leaders protested, holding signs reading, “$14,000 to a useless cat-nothing labor.” Artists also protested the museum’s preference for antiquity rather than modern art.

“Cat” sat straight up, staring at the middle distance.

When she finally deigned to respond, in a letter to the Star-Times, she admitted being troubled–despite her “Egyptian imperturbability”–on reading a description of herself as an inanimate object. She extolled both her sleek elegance and menace and added, “I’m not vain.” She was now close to breaking the museum’s attendance record. New York and Paris had published stories about her. Soon, Albert Lewin, a screenwriter, and director would ask for her to be used in his 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray. He said that she was one of the most beautiful Egyptian artifacts that he had ever seen.

The museum said such beauty is fragile. However, he was allowed to copy her. So it is a replica of St. Louis’ “Cat”, who grants Dorian his wish that his painting age in his place. Ivan Albright, an artist, painted a disturbing portrait of Gray’s dissolution. The cat is serene in the background. This painting is part of Chicago’s permanent collection.

And “Cat,” in all of her mystery, is ours.