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The Complete Cats in the Sun
Hans W. Silvester
*The Complete Cats in the Sun* collects Hans Silvester's beloved color photographs of the free-roaming cats of the Greek Cyclades, chiefly on the islands of Syros and Santorini. Made over three years, the images set hundreds of cats — respected but not domesticated, valued by villagers as mousers — against a backdrop of whitewashed walls, blue doors, sun-baked steps and sparkling sea. The pictures catch the animals mid-leap, curled asleep, or posed against the Mediterranean light, and together they double as a portrait of an unspoiled island world. First popularized in the 1990s and praised by *The Atlantic Monthly* as among the finest pictures ever taken of cats, this fuller gathering speaks to cat lovers, photography fans and anyone charmed by the Greek isles.
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The artist
Hans W. Silvester (born 1938) is a German-born photographer, long based in the south of France, known for his humane, painterly work on animals, landscapes and traditional cultures — from the peoples of the Omo Valley to the gardens of Provence. His cat books became international bestsellers, with more than a quarter of a million copies of his work sold.
The book
The Complete Cats in the Sun brings together the photographs Silvester made among the Cycladic islands, expanding on his original Cats in the Sun. Published by Chronicle Books, it is as much a celebration of the islands' light and architecture as of the cats themselves.
How to read it
This is a book to leaf through and enjoy, not to read — a photographic album whose appeal is immediate and unabashedly charming. Its only argument is aesthetic: that ordinary street cats, well seen, are beautiful.
For more context
Silvester returned to the subject in companion titles such as The Mediterranean Cat and Sleeping in the Sun.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Hans W. Silvester
- Publisher
- Chronicle Books
- Place of publication
- San Francisco
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado
Places