Cats and Dogs is a 1976 series of silkscreen paintings by American artist Andy Warhol. The set depicts stylized images of domestic cats and dog breeds such as the Great Dane, West HighlandWhite Terrier, and Dachshund. Produced during a period when Warhol increasingly embraced commissioned portraiture and decorative subject matter, the series reflects his interest in animals, repetition, and the commercialization of imagery applied to familiar, intimate subjects.
Animals were a constant presence in Andy Warhol's life, functioning as familiar and trusted companions. Echoing a remark often attributed to actor Will Rogers, Warhol wrote, "I never met an animal I didn't like."[1] Over the years, he elevated some of these animals to subjects in his art across various media, while others left more literal marks on his work. His fondness for domestic pets began in childhood with the Warhola family dog, Lucy, in the 1940s.[1] In the 1950s, he kept more than two dozen Siamese cats—most named Sam, with one called Hester—which inspired his book 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy (1957).[2] During the 1960s, the Silver Factory housed resident cats named Black Lace and White Pussy, and in the 1970s, Warhol and his partner Jed Johnson acquired two dachshunds named Archie and Amos.[1]
By the mid-1970s, Warhol had largely shifted away from the avant-garde filmmaking and radical experimentation of his earlier career, concentrating instead on commissioned portraits and print portfolios aimed at collectors. In 1976, the Mayor Gallery commissioned an entire series devoted to cats and dogs.[3] Warhol embraced the idea, and it opened a new avenue for commissioned portraiture.[2]
He initially worked from stuffed animals, which he found easier to paint from life, including his stuffed Great Dane named Cecil that stood near the bulletproof door at the Factory.[4] Warhol later turned to living subjects, among them his dogs Archie and Amos, who appeared in characterful, vividly colored compositions.
Subjects
Amos: Dachshund owned by Warhol and Jed Johnson[5]
Maurice: Dachshund owned by Gabrielle Keiller[10][11]
Pom: King Charles Spaniel owned by Lady Adeane. While in London for the Cats and Dogs exhibition, Warhol was commissioned by the Mayor Gallery's director, Sir Robert Adeane, to create a portrait of his wife's dog.[12]
Exhibitions
In June 1976, Cats and Dogs was unveiled at the Mayor Gallery in London, where each screen print was priced at £16,000.[2] Gallerist James Mayor arranged for the works to be exhibited at the Dhaiat Abdullah Al Salem Gallery in Kuwait in January 1977.[3][13]
Art critic William Feaver of The Observer wrote: "Andy Warhol shows no signs of being bothered about his artistic role. … at the Mayor Gallery in London, the petlovers' capital, he presents some recent portraits of cats and dogs, among them Amos, his superstar dachshund. The technique is the same as for his Marilyns, Maos and others. … Off-register shadows, bulky retouchings, and variant repeats ring the changes nicely. And there are some frizzy drawings of the pets too."[5]
Art critic Caroline Tisdall wrote for The Guardian: "Cats and dogs are a curious sequel to Chairman Mao …The drawings are not at all like the virtuoso stepping through the styles that Warhol practices on Mao. They are done with a rough zigzagging line that's as far from the sentimentality of Landseer as it is from the precision of Stubbs. … the colour combinations as inimitably bold as the Marilyns and the self-portraits. It would be tempting to look for self-portraits here too, among the dachshunds, boxers, and felines … The cats perhaps have a touch of his cool, enigmatic mask, but they rather outdid him."[15]
Fenella Crichton wrote for Art International: "Blown up well over life-size, and coloured in virulent or sickly shades, these animals look like characters which have strayed from a nightmare Disney. … As Warhol has made a cult of anonymity, always selecting public images, whether stars or executions, the fact that these works were all portraits of individual animals, clearly represented a significant shift of strategy. But Warhol has always with taste, and these schmaltzy creatures demonstrated a new onslaught on an area which is vulnerable both sides of the Atlantic."[6]
↑Tisdall, Caroline (5 July 1976). "Warhol". The Guardian. p.8. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
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