A woman holds a cat in a black-and-white photo. She sits on a couch, and wears a dress with her light colored hair pulled back.
A woman sits wearing a dress and a string of pearls. Her hair is pulled up, and she is holding a cat.
A woman with brown hair sits wearing a formal dress. There is a cat on her lap.
This is a slide with text. The text reads: THE BEST OF BUZZER There are at least 82 photographs of Buzzer, the beloved cat of photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942). Genthe is renowned for his images of Chinatown in San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake, as well as for his famous shot of the city after the quake. His oeuvre also includes portraits of prominent figures of the time, such as Sarah Bernhardt and President Theodore Roosevelt, alongside autochromes (early colour photographs) and, of course, images of Buzzer. Genthe’s love for cats began at an early age. He recalled: ‘At the age of four, when I was taken by the nurse to look at my newly arrived brother Hugo, I apparently remarked, “I’d rather have a kitten”.’ His affection for Buzzer appears to have been so great that he found it difficult to accept the cat’s death. Future cats all resembled Buzzer and were also named ‘Buzzer’, making it difficult to determine whether the cat in the photographs is the same one. The Buzzer images shown here were taken during Genthe’s time in New York, capturing him together with women (and occasionally children) dressed in early 20th-century fashion, often set against equally period-appropriate interiors.
Arnold Genthe, famed for his photos of pre-1906 San Francisco, took at least 82 portraits of his cat Buzzer - often with women and children. He named every cat after the original, so it’s hard to tell who’s who. Still, each image captures his devotion. Photo credits in the thread. #catsofthepast