Centuries Before #Memes, There Were The LOLCats Of #Japanese Woodprints #cats [#geekgirl]

Before the age of memedom — before LOLcats and Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat and Henri, le Chat Noir — there was ukiyo-e.

Typically, we associate the centuries-old Japanese art form with wood print masters like Katsushika Hokusai and Hishikawa Moronobu, who rendered everything from “Great Waves” to Edo-era erotica. But, as a recent exhibition has graciously pointed out, cats played a surprisingly prominent role in the work of Japan’s illustrators in the 17th century on. Behold: “Life of Cats: Selections from the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Collection.”

Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904), The Story of Otomi and Yosaburō

Source>: Huffington Post