Thurston Hopkins

Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

“Before a cat will condescend to treat you as a trusted friend, some little token of esteem is needed. Like a dish of cream.” - T.S. Eliot

“Thurston Hopkin's dream was to work for Picture Post, the UK equivalent of Life Magazine. It was like a rite of passage to join their ranks. As Thurston told me once, while walking the streets of London doing reportage for other assignments he met many cats that were made homeless by all the war bombings. He proposed to his editor that he do a story on “The Cats of London." The editor agreed and off Thurston went. Many of these strays had to establish themselves in the bomb sites. They were living and breeding more or less as wild cats would, surviving on the scraps given by friendly neighbours. Back in those days even the normal, “domestic” cats that had loving homes would spend lots of time on the streets. It was a common practice to let the cat out of the house before the owners went to bed as cat doors did not exist then. So even the kitties that had homes were still street cats first and house cats second. The streets have changed, the cars for sure have changed, but the cats are the only things that have not changed in 70 years. The alternative title for this image is “Purr-Fect Parking." Don’t you just love that English wit?” – Peter Fetterman