Richard Kalvar (1944- present, American) The Great Cat

Richard Kalvar (1944- present, American) is a Magnum photographer who is known for his black and white “street” photographs.

After studying American literature at Cornell University, Kalvar became an assistant fashion photographer, working with Jérôme Ducrot . He decided to become a photographer after a trip to Europe in 1966. In 1975, Kalvar became an associate member of Magnum Photos, and two years later a full member.

Kalvar’s photographs juxtapose banality and an oddity of an image caught in a point in time while focusing on the irony of the situation. His cats often display perturbed facial expressions, and are almost always photographed with women.

His first exhibition was at the Galérie Agathe Gaillard in Paris in 1980. His ability to capture daily urban life in Rome and Paris is apparent in the majority of his photographs.

Kalvar writes, “A picture looks like reality but is completely abstracted from it: it’s frozen in time, flat, silent, and ignorant of everything outside of the frame. The odor is gone, and sometimes even the color. The choice of the moment eliminates the continuity before and after, which is present in real reality. And of course only appearances can be photographed.

But photographs sure look like reality, and it’s this complex and impossible relationship between the two that opens up all kinds of wonderful possibilities. As long as you don’t manipulate what’s going on, through posing or Photoshopping, you can create scenes that are both believable and absurd. Impressions are all.”

Today Kalvar lives in Paris.

Cat behind the shutters, 2013

A Cat and a Sculpture of a Dog, 1987

Cat Curled up Sleeping in a Store Window, 1976, NYC

Cats above a Doorway, Edessa, Greece, 2003

Cats in Bed, NYC, 2015

Cats on Screen Door, Woodstock, NY, 1969

Old Man on Crutches in a Park, with Cats, Spain, 1966

Père Lachaise Cemetery

Beware of Dog

Beware of the Dog, on UK Postage Stamp

Richard Kalvar, Cat and Woman, 1992

St Emilion, France, Little Girl and Cat, 1991

Dog Bothering a Cat in a Basket, 1977

Terracotta Statues and Cat, Thailand, 2007

The White Bear Pub on St. John Street, with a Closed-Eyed Cat, London, 2009

Café “Le Sélect”, Montparnasse, Henri CHAPIER with his cat, 2007

French Photographer Bruno Barbey with Cat and wife Caroline

Father and son taking a nap, 1982

Woman and Cat Reading, 1975

Woman Protecting her Fearful Dog from Ferocious Cats, 1978, Rome

Woman with Three Cats, Trastevere. Rome, 1978

Women Amazed by an Earless Cat

Cat Show at the Espace Champerret, Paris, 1985

Cat show. White cat with his Portrait on a Magazine Cover, 1985

Porte de Champerret Cat Show, 1998

Porte de Champerret, Cat Show, 1998

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