Louis Wain

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Louis Wain (1860 – 1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which often included anthropomorphized large-eyed cats and kittens.

He may have suffered with schizophrenia in his later years (although this assertion is debatable among specialists), as shown in his writings by several psychiatrists.

Life

Wain was born in Clerkenwell, London, on August 5th. William Matthew Wain (1825-1880) was a textile craftsman and embroiderer; his mother, Julie Felicite Boiteux (1833-1910), was French. He was the first of six children and the first male child. None of his five siblings—Caroline E.M. (1862-1917), Josephine F.M.—is a historian who wrote about him. Marie L. (1864-1939), Ellen L. (1867-1913), Claire M. (1868-1945) and Felicie J. (1971-1940): I was never married. Marie, 34, was declared insane and admitted to an asylum in 1901, where she died in 1913. The remaining sisters lived with their mother for the remainder of their lives.

Wain was born with a cleft lip, and a doctor told his parents that he would not be sent to school or taught before he was ten. He was often tardy from school and spent a large part of his childhood wandering around London. He then studied at the West London School of Art and became a tutor for a short time. After his father's death in 1880, he was left to help his mother and his five children at the age of 20. When he first saw his first drawing -Bullfinches on Laurel Bushes - in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, he stepped out from home and rented a furnished room.

Wain soon left his teaching career to become a freelancer. He had a great deal in this role. He specialized in drawing animals and countryside scenes, and he worked for several newspapers, including the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, where he lived for four years; and The Illustrated London News, where he began in 1886. His drawings of English country houses and estates, as well as livestock he was hired to perform agricultural shows began in the 1880s. At this time, his interests included a number of species of animals, as well as his ability to draw creatures of all sorts throughout his lifetime. He hoped to make a livable life by drawing dog portraits at one point.

Emily Richardson, Wain's younger sister, married her sister, Emily Richardson, who was ten years old at the time, and moved to Hampstead, north London, at 23 years old. She began suffering from breast cancer soon and died three years later. Wain discovered the topic that would define his career prior to his death. Emily was comforted by their pet cat Peter, a stray black-and-white kitten who they rescued after they heard him yeling in the rain one night. Peter was sketched by Wain, which Emily encouraged him to publish. She died before this happened, but he continued to sketch cats. "The foundation of my career, the evolution of my initial attempts, and the establishment of my company were all connected to him," Peter said later. In several of Wain's early published works, Peter can be identified.

"A Kitten's Christmas Party," Wain's first drawing of anthropomorphized cats, "A Kitten's Christmas Party," was published in the Illustrated London News' Christmas issue in 1886. Wain was hired by the magazine editor to produce this article, which may have reflected the height of his fame. It depicted 150 cats, some of whom resembled Peter, who were involved in activities such as sending invitations, playing games, and making speeches. It was distributed on eleven panels. The cats are still on all fours, unclothed, and without the variety of human-like words that would characterize Wain's later work.

Emily died on January 2, 1887, just weeks after the success of "A Kitten's Christmas Party." Wain started suffering from depression and cats shortly after his death, and it became his obsession. As a result, the way in which he represented them began to change. Emily's death and future tragic events in his life—the death of his cat Peter and one of his sisters—probably contributed to his mental breakdown.

In subsequent years, his cats began to walk upright, smile broadly, and use other exaggerated facial expressions, as well as wear chic, contemporary clothing. He illustrated cats playing musical instruments, drinking tea, playing cards, fishing, smoking, and attending nights at the opera. Such anthropomorphic representations of animals were common in Victorian England, and they were often found in books, greeting cards, and satirical illustrations such as John Tenniel's.

Wain was a prolific artist for the next 30 years. During his year as many as 200 drawings a year, he illustrated over 100 children's books. His work appeared in newspapers, journals, and magazines, including the Louis Wain Annual, which ran from 1901 to 1915. His work was also reproduced on picture postcards, which have since become highly sought after collectors' items. He was chairman of the National Cat Club in 1898 to 1911.

Wain's illustrations often parody human behavior, satirizing fads and styles of the day. "I bring a sketch-book to a restaurant or other public places, and draw the people in their various roles as cats," he wrote. This makes me doubly human, and these studies [to be] my best comeback work," says the author.

Wain was involved with many animal charities, including the Governing Council of Our Dumb Friends League, the Society for the Protection of Cats, and the Anti-Vivisection Society. As I'd mentioned earlier, he was involved in the National Cat Club and served as its president and chairman. In England, he said he helped "to strip out the contempt in which the cat has been held" for "three years.

Despite his fame, Wain suffered with money issues throughout his life. He remained solely responsible for the care of his mother and siblings but had no business acumen. He was modest, naive, quickly abused, and unprepared for bargaining in the age of publishing. He often sold his drawings outright, but retaining no right over their reproduction. He was easily deceived and found himself tricked by the promise of a new invention or other money-making schemes.

He went to New York in 1907, where he drew Cats About Town and Grimalkin for Hearst Corporation newspapers. His work was widely praised, but his sarcastic attitude toward the city made him the object of sniping in the media. Due to his inexperience in a new kind of oil lamp, he returned home even less money.

Circa 1914, Wain produced a number of Amphora Ceramics ceramic pieces. The pieces were dubbed "future cat" and featured geometrical markings on cats and dogs in angular sizes and with geometrical markings. They are regarded as being in the Cubist art style.

It should be noted that Wain's suspected schizophrenia was not due to toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which is excreted by cats in their faeces. The old belief that toxoplasmosis can cause schizophrenia, which can be traced back to the mid-20th century, is highly debated; nonetheless, the association of schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis is increasingly questionable; although empirical evidence supports this, the association seems to be more a myth rather than a fact. Wain was not the only one in his family with a mental disorder, according to the report.

Wain was admitted to a pauper ward at the Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting in 1924, when his siblings could no longer cope with his erratic, sometimes violent conduct. When Wain was discovered there a year later, his life were widely publicized, prompting requests from H.G. Wells and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's personal intervention. In 1930, Wain was admitted to Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark, and then in 1930, he was admitted to Napsbury Hospital near St Albans, north of London. Napsbury's final years were relatively peaceful, with a garden and colony of cats, and he spent his remaining years there in peace. As he became more popular, his erratic mood swings subsided, and he kept coming back for pleasure. While his main subject of cats remained unchanged, his work from this period is highlighted by vivid colors, flowers, and intricate and abstract patterns.

Wain died in July 1939 at Napsbury Mental Health Hospital in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. At St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, London, he is buried in his father's grave.

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