Eros, Sing and Barns-Graham’s other cats

The Carbeth Cat | Fuskin Chuff

One of Barns-Graham’s first known Siamese cats was the family kitten, Fuskin Chuff. In June 1939, Barns-Graham travelled with Fuskin Chuff to a photographer’s studio in order to pose with the then 10 month old kitten. We have over 40 images from this photography session, both of Fuskin Chuff alone and in playful poses with Barns-Graham. Some of the subsequent portraits were then given to her mother as a birthday present the following January.

To reach the photographer’s studio would have involved a long journey from the family home at Carbeth for Barns-Graham and Fuskin Chuff. The archive evidence seems to suggest the studio was in Helensburgh, but even if the photographs were taken more locally, the family did not have a car and would have had to travel by taxi and train to their destination. Carbeth is over 5 miles from the nearest town, Milngavie, and 21 to Helensburgh.

The St Ives Siamese | Sing

St Ives was well known for its cats (see from 11:00 of this BFI archive footage) and many of the St Ives artists were also fond of felines, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth in particular (see this fantastic photo by Life photographer, Mark Kauffman). It’s therefore not surprising that Barns-Graham too had several cats throughout her life there.

In 1952, Ben Nicholson arrived at 4 Teetotal Street, where Barns-Graham lived with her then-husband, David Lewis, holding a box of three Siamese kittens. He offered one to Barns-Graham as a present, sharing the other two between himself and Barbara Hepworth. Writing in her 1990s reminiscences she recalls:

‘…for years I had an adorable female Seal Point I called ‘Sing’. Barbara chose a female she called ‘Tula’. Ben chose a male he called ‘Bottlebrush’ which after a couple of years or more he gave to Denis Mitchell. They lived to a good age.’

At the time of her arrival, Sing was not the first feline resident at 4 Teetotal Street. Lewis and Barns-Graham also had Festle, and both were soon joined by her kittens, Humphrey and Cuthbert (who were given away shortly after weaning). Lewis often wrote to Barns-Graham about the cats, giving special attention to the antics of Sing, who seems to have been somewhat of a character and the object of Barns-Graham’s affection. In this letter from Lewis (above), he describes how Sing lightens the mood at a dinner party by swinging from the curtains following the arrival of a rather depressed-sounding Ben Nicholson.

The Delightful Wee Soul | Eros

A source of great pride and joy to Barns-Graham was Eros, a male blue point pedigree Siamese kitten that was adopted by the artist in the summer of 1970. In a letter to the breeder, updating him on kitten Eros’s first few days settling in, she described him as “a delightful wee soul, very demanding like they all are, but very rewarding.”

For the first few years of his life, Eros lived with Barns-Graham in her St Ives flat, Barnaloft. However, he began to travel with her when she would make the long journey up to St Andrews, and became more and more used to the countryside explorations that were available to him at Balmungo House outside St Andrews. Eventually, it was decided that Eros should stay at Balmungo permanently with Rowan James. Alongside Rowan, Eros was accompanied by goats, and chickens, and two other Siamese cats, called Newshka and Sunghi. In the Spring and Summer, Barns-Graham and Rowan would take an evening walk around the grounds of Balmungo House; they would always be accompanied by Eros.

Barns-Graham was very used to having the company of a cat with her in St Ives, and her diaries are full of sentences lamenting Eros’s (at first temporary) absence as he stayed behind with Rowan in St Andrews. To keep her updated on Eros’s antics, Rowan would often send Barns-Graham letters, both in Eros’s voice, and containing illustrations of his and the other cats’ daily activities.

Eros made a deep impression on Barns-Graham, even appearing in an abstract work by her, To Eros, 1984-5 (a seal-pointed collage?).

Although Eros was the last cat to officially live with Barns-Graham in St Ives, after he moved to St Andrews, Barns-Graham befriended a neighbourhood cat named Jasmin. In her diary, she describes how Jasmin charmed her way into in her flat, and would occasionally visit, even sleeping on her bed on some nights!

The Balmungo Clowder | Newshka, Sunghi, Kidda, Jalan, and Suzie

Newshka, Sunghi, and Kidda were brought to Balmungo by Rowan throughout the 1980s. Along with Eros, they were often photographed snuggled together, or staring out of the window. In a film produced in the 1990s by Susie Davies, Jalan and Suzie are filmed sitting on Rowan and Barns-Graham’s laps in the living room of Balmungo.