A great artist can change the way the world views a subject! When it comes to cats in art, Louis Wain was the artist that made us all see the human side of cats. Even today, artists are inspired by his work. This Victorian Era artist turned his love of cats into a phenomenon.
Title Image: Louis Wain, work in Public Domain
The Early Life of Louis Wain
Louis Wain with his cat in 1890, work in public domain
“Those with feelings wondrous kind, Can love with felines ever bind.”- Louis Wain
Louis Wain was born on August 5, 1860, in Clerkenwell in London, England. He was the only brother to 5 younger sisters. His sisters would live at home and never marry.
Born with a cleft lip, doctors told Wain’s parents that he would not be able to go to school or be taught until he was 10 years old. Even after trouble with truancy in school, Louis Wain found his way into the West London School of Art where he studied art. Eventually, he became a teacher there.
At the age of 20, Wain’s father passed away, leaving him to be the man of the house. He soon gave up teaching to become a freelance artist. The career change proved to be a very successful one. He made a good money on his drawings of animals and country landscapes. Always an animal lover, Wain had always wanted to make a living painting portraits of dogs.
A realistic cat portrait by Louis Wain. Work in public domain.
Quite a scandal at the time, Louis Wain married his sister’s private tutor, Emily Richardson, when he was 23 years old. She was 10 years older than him. Not long after the marriage, Emily fell ill with breast cancer.
To make Emily smile, Wain began drawing the stray cat (Peter) that the couple kept as a pet. It was unusual during this time period for people to keep cats as house pets. Cats were still seen more like a farm animal – a necessity to keep rodent populations under control. Emily loved the cat drawings and made him promise to continue drawing the cats. She died only 3 years into their marriage.
Cat Art Gets a Makeover
Cat with a Cigar by Louis Wain. Work in public domain.
“He has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves.” – H.G. Wells
Little did Emily know that her promise would inspire the art that would be her husband’s legacy. Louis Wain kept his promise to continue drawing cats. Wain became known all over Victorian London for his cats.
At first, Louis Wain created very realistic portraits of cats, but slowly a new personality emerged. In 1886, Wain drew A Kittens’ Christmas Party for the Illustrated London News, in which he portrayed his first anthropomorphic cats. These cats with human characteristics were a big hit!
Over time Wain’s cats became more and more human-like. He said that he would go find people doing things around town (like sitting at a restaurant) and draw them as cats. Wain’s art showed cats standing upright, wearing clothing, drinking tea, smoking, playing musical instruments, play cards, and more. He was very prolific; Louis Wain illustrated more that 100 children’s books and his drawings appeared in many other types of publications.
Louis Wain did not just draw cats, he truly loved them. He had this to say about Peter, the cat that had first inspired him:
“To him, properly, belongs the foundation of my career, the developments of my initial efforts, and the establishing of my work.”
Wain was involved with several different animal charities around London and had twice been the chairman of the National Cat Club (1989 and 1911).
An Unhappy Ending
Cat Club by Louis Wain. Work in public domain.
“Not a drain of milk left for these poor kittens’ tea, For the cook was so greedy, and drank it you see.” – Louis Wain, Kitten Book
Unfortunately, Louis Wain was not a very good businessman. People took advantage of his money and duped him into bad investments. He didn’t seem to know how to properly barter with companies for royalties on his work. Even after a cartooning job in New York City, Wain found himself back and home living with his sisters and without much money to show for his work.
Kitten’s Christmas by Louis Wain. Work in public domain.
Mental illness took its toll on Louis Wain later in life. Eventually, his fits and outbursts became too much for his sisters to manage so they had him placed in the poverty ward at Springfield Mental Hospital in 1923. The conditions were so bad there that Wain’s predicament became the talk of the town. Author H.G. Wells, a fan of Wain, and Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald personally paid to have him relocated.
Wain spent his last 15 years at Bethlem Royal Hospital. There was a garden and a group of cats for him to enjoy in the new hospital. He continued to draw until his death.
Was it Schizophrenia?
Cats drawn in Louis Wain’s later years. Works in public domain.
“I consider that my boyish fancy did much towards my future artistic life, for it taught me to use my powers of observation, and to concentrate my mind on the details of nature which I should otherwise never have noticed.” – Louis Wain
There is a lot of controversy over Louis Wain’s mental illness. He is most popularly described as having had schizophrenia. A psychiatrist lined up a series of Wain’s drawings to show how they were affected as the schizophrenia developed. It appears that Wain’s cats went from whimsical figures to kaleidoscopic monsters. Others claim that schizophrenia can not be proven by this series of drawings because we do not know which order they were painted in.
An alternative theory is that Wain may have been suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. Sometimes people with an Autism disorder will have what is known as visual agnosia. This means that the visual processing part of their brain is not functioning properly and so they have difficulty recognizing objects even though their vision is fine. These people describe objects as blurs of color, lines, and details that have no meaning.
Wain’s later drawings could be his way of trying to make sense of the shapes and colors he was seeing without being able to identify the objects visually. Interestingly, Wain’s artistic technique never degraded as one would see in a patient suffering from schizophrenia. Even his last pieces of art were craftily done.
Have you seen Louis Wain’s work before?
I’m very familiar with Louis Wain, as you might guess. 🙂 He was the main artist to popularize anthropomorphic art of cats, who were just about the last creatures to be added to the list of anthro animals. Dogs and other farm animals had been there for a while. A professor had mentioned him as the artist whose mental illness you could see developing as his cartoons of cats became more and more frightening through the end of his life though as you mentioned it’s difficult to tell if the drawings are sequential or episodic, and the frightening elements did not appear in his other subjects. Thanks for sharing his story!.
Absolutely fascinating!!
We are big Louis Wain fans here! My human discovered him as a teenager.
Very cool post! Glad i came across this. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Henry
What wonderful depictions of we cats! My human loves the Victorian Era and now, thanks to you has been introduced to a cat artist that she wasn’t aware of before. Mew Mew!
I’ve actually never heard of him but I’ve fallen in love with his artwork!
What a great recap of this talented artist. We probably owe a debt of gratitude to him for how people perceive and treat cats today.
Thanks for turning us on to his work! Had not seen it before.
Brilliance is what I see. Mental illness or disability, or not, the man was genius. I appreciate and respect those who show their feelings through art. I wish I had talent like that. I love cat art. One of my favorite books is called The Cat Who Wished To Be a Man – it has wonderful illustrations.
I also love reading about history so I really enjoyed this post!
Great artists are not necessarily great business people! I’m glad people pitched in to have him moved, those sound like horrid conditions to live in. Even better that his new home had cats.
We had never heard of him before. His artwork is just beautiful. What a sad story.
I don’t know if cats would like that idea – having a human side 😉
I love art and I love cats. I never heard of Louis Wain before reading your post. I learned something new today. Thanks! I’ll have to look up more of his works.
I was not familiar with Louis Wain before reading this post. He was a gifted artist, and I’m sorry he had so much unhappiness in his life.
Very interesting article! I had never heard of this artist before, but enjoyed reading about him and his background. Love his pictures too! How awesome that he inspired the trend of cats being portrayed with human characteristics. It’s too bad that he ended up in a hospital later in his life. So much talent there!
His work is amazing and it is a tragedy he lost out when today his work is so loved. I have a little newspaper cartoon of his.
We are not familiar with his work but it is beautiful! So sorry to learn that his life was tragic. Thank you for sharing!
I love visiting the various forms of animal artwork and places that house them in my travels. These are beautiful interpretations and so amazing to get the historical background on each!
had never heard of him! time to go do some digging of our own! Sad how so many artists have tragic lives…
I’m familiar with his work. What struck me most about him was seeing his struggles depicted in his art over time.
What an interesting story behind Wayne’s art. I love his work.
What an amazing story. He started out so promising, but his life ended so tragically. I love that cat w/ a cigar, it’s adorable! Thanks for sharing this wonderful artist, he did some really charming pieces.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Who knew the original ‘crazy cat lady’ was a man! What a fascinating story, and amazing artwork!