Vintage Mainzer Cats - Naughty Student, Card

A scene in a classroom of kittens where the cat teacher has one kitten over her knee and is spanking him for being naughty. The other kittens, books in hand, laugh or try to keep themselves from being the next one that sparks the teacher's ire. The Alfred Mainzer Co. of Long Island, NY began publishing postcards in the 1940s that were illustrated by the Swiss artist Eugen Hartung (1897-1973). Hartung’s primary subjects were dressed cats in human-like situations that were always comical and with some sort of disaster about to happen. The scenes were so detailed that you could look at them multiple times and still see something that you didn’t notice before. The postcards became known as “Mainzer Cats” and many people to this day mistakenly think the artist’s name is Mainzer. Hartung also used other animals such as dogs, mice and hedgehogs in his illustrations. Hartung’s work can also be found in his illustrations for fairy tales and children’s books.