MOORHEAD — For decades cats roamed Moorhead’s Rourke Art Gallery. There are no more gallery cats, but they never really left the space, just the public view.
A show in the Rourke’s Children’s Gallery showcases cats in art and celebrates the feline history at the institution. The show is on display through the month of May.
“They were part of the Rourke experience for a lot of years. Cats go back at the old Rourke Art Gallery to the 1960s. There had been a dynasty that stretched all the way back, I think through the late ‘80s, early ’90s,” said Executive Director and Curator Jonathan Rutter. “I think the last cat may have informally been a member of the board or at least attended meetings.”
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Rutter worked with Rourke co-founder James O’Rourke — who added the O’ to his name later in life — from 2001 when he was an art student at Minnesota State University Moorhead through O’Rourke’s death in 2011.
(Rourke operated the Rourke Art Gallery at 523 Fourth St. S., Moorhead, and the Rourke Art Museum at 521 Main Ave., Moorhead until his death. The house was closed and later sold with the operation moving to the Main Avenue space and renamed the Rourke Art Gallery + Museum.)
He said O’Rourke had a fondness for felines.
“He lived alone all of his life. So I think he appreciated the companionship, but at the same time, he liked that they could attend to themselves,” Rutter said. “He had some limited interest in specific breeds of dogs, but cats, he just loved all kinds.”
O’Rourke named cats after influential painters and leaders. Giotto was named after the Italian Gothic and Renaissance artist. El Greco after the Spanish Renaissance painter. Edvard Munch after the Norwegian painter.
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“Giotto was one of the more beloved gallery cats. Jim tried to establish a second dynasty, so an heir was acquired, an Abyssinian named Khufu after the Egyptian pharaoh, but unfortunately, Khufu passed away before Giotto did, so that was unfortunately the end of the storied dynasty.”
O’Rourke didn’t just appreciate the company of cats — he liked them as art subjects.
“I think cat imagery captivated Jim, so that’s certainly inspired more than one exhibit that we’ve had over the decades. It informed his collecting as well,” Rutter said.
Contributed / Todd Hunter Strand
He points to one of the sculptures in the Children’s Gallery, a stylized solid bronze figure known as Bobo Cat that was made in the African country Burkina Faso.
“I believe Jim acquired it after he sold one of his cars. I forget if that was the Mustang or the Daimler,” Rutter said.
All of the pieces in the show are from The Rourke’s permanent collection, many originally from O’Rourke’s private collection that he gifted to the institution.
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The show has cats from around the world, from images made by regional artists like DeborahMae Broad from Twin Valley, Minnesota, to a 1929 print by Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita and a1969 print by Chinese-born artist Wang Hui-Ming.
A jaguar mask made of leather, paint, mirrors and boar hair from Zitlata in Guerrero, Mexico, greets visitors walking through the door. The sculpture was donated by the late Fargo artist Joel Hegerle.
On the north wall beyond the head is a large painting by Robert A. Nelson who used to teach art at the University of North Dakota.
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Known for his mechanically precise drawings, paintings and prints that often anthropomorphized animals, this oil painting shows a black and white cat in one frame and a brown and white one with bat wings licking its paw in another. Below them is stenciled “Haileyville cat as hero” and above them each is an Uncle Sam top hat and red scrollwork.
“It seems like not a lot of folks had seen that one. So that was fun to include and we also have a really nice lithograph,” Rutter said. “He did ‘Captured Cat,’ but we thought that might be a little scary for the children’s gallery to have a cat that was chained up.”
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Longtime Rourke patrons will recognize Philip J. Thompson’s “Anniversary Cat,” which features the head of a cat peering over the tree-like symbol of the Rourke.
That image has been modified to create the logo for the show, painted on the wall.
Also painted onto the wall are various cats playing on the baseboards, peaking around door frames and popping up from behind art. These images were created by Rourke employee Courtney Donahue.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
The second-floor Children’s Gallery is relatively new, though it was an established gallery space. Its first show was a collection of surrealist work.
“We want to make it a little different every time. We just wanted something fun and we continue to have some cat fanciers among the workers here,” Rutter said.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
The show has been a success, not only for kids, but adults as well. A table in the middle of the room is covered with paper allowing people to draw pictures of cats. Another small table houses building blocks and Rutter has seen people create cat figures in those spaces.
“I think the Children’s Gallery generally has been a pretty good success for us and people are loving the cats. It’s fairly successful exhibit as far as interaction and getting people up here and getting kids involved,” Rutter said. “It’s fun to see how much adults actually engage with the children’s space. During the occasional walkthroughs I’ll catch very tall adult men and women sitting in these little chairs drawing on the tabletop there. I think people enjoy the whimsy of the space.”
