Candid, fluffy, cute cats were the preserve of photographer Walter Chandoha long before the internet, with his images finding a global audience. Chandoha was a conflict photographer during the second world war, but by 1949 was studying marketing in New York when he brought home a stray cat amid a snowstorm and began to take photographs, leading to a lifetime of tenderly realised portraiture.
A new book, Family Cats, collates those early years of feline fascination, charting Chandoha’s daily practice. The Walter Chandoha Archive and Chandoha family note how his work depicted cats as “akin to human beings, as beloved members of the family. These photographs show his sheer commitment, patience and mastery in portraying the cats as they are, in all their myriad moments.”
Family Cats: From the Archive 1949-1962 by Walter Chandoha is published by Damiani Books
