Louis William Wain, 1860-1939, was an English artist known for his drawings, most specifically his cats depicted with large eyes. He was the oldest of six children and the only male among his five sisters who never married.
Wain was born with a cleft lip and the family doctor ordered his parents not to send Louis to school until he was ten years old. He was often truant from school and spent most of his childhood wandering around London. Later, Louis studied at the West London School of Art and became a teacher there. At 20, Wain became the head of the household and supporter of his mother and five sisters after his father's death.
Louis quit his teaching position and became a freelance artist. He became successful, especially drawing animals and country scenes. Louis worked for several journals including the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News for four years, and The Illustrated London News in 1886. Through the 1880s, Wain's work included detailed illustrations of the English country homes and estates as well as livestock he was commissioned to draw at agricultural shows. At one point in his artistic career he had planned to make a living drawing dog portraits.
When Louis was 23, Wain married his sisters' governess, Emily Richardson, who was ten years older than Louis and moved with her to Hampstead in north London. Emily was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after their marriage and died three years later. During her illness, Emily's animal companion was a stray black and white kitten Louis and Emily rescued one rainy night. The cat helped to lift the spirit of Emily and Louis began to draw many sketches of him, which Emily encouraged him to publish. Emily died before they were published, but he continued to draw cat sketches. The cat, Peter, can be recognized in many of Wain's early published works.
In 1886, Wain's cat drawings began to take human form called anthropomorphize and was published in the Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News, entitled “A Kittens' Christmas Party”. The illustration depicted 150 cats, many that looked like Peter, performing activities such as sending invitations, holding a ball, playing games, and making speeches.
Wain's cat illustrations showed cats playing musical instruments, serving tea, playing cards, smoking, and attending the opera. Such drawings became popular in Victorian England and Wain's illustrations often was used on greeting cards and satirical illustrations of John Tenniel.
For the next 30 years, Wain produced many drawings, sometimes drawing several hundred in one year. He illustrated 100 children's books, and his work appeared in papers, journals, and magazines including the Louis Wain Annual, which was published from 1901 to 1915. His drawings were reproduced on postcards. In 1898 and 1911 he was the chairman of the National Cat Club.
Despite his popularity, Wain continually suffered financial difficulty, not having much business sense. He often was taken advantage of in the publishing world as well as investing in promises of a new invention or other schemes. He often sold his drawings outright with no rights of their reproduction.
In 1907, Louis traveled to New York where he drew comic strips for newspapers owned by the Hearst Corporation. Louis returned home with less money that he had before due to a failed investment in a new type of oil lamp.
Sometime in 1914, Louis created a number of ceramic pieces that were produced by Amphora Ceramics entitled “futurist cats”.
Wain's onset of schizophrenia is thought to have been caused by Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite which is excreted by cats in their feces. In 1924, his sisters could no longer cope with Louis' erratic and violent behavior, and so was committed to the Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting. A year later, someone discovered he was there and with the help of H.G. Wells, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Wain was transferred to a better place at Bethlem Royal Hospital; and in 1930 transferred to Napsbury Hospital near ST. Albans in Hertfordshire, north of London. Napsbury was ideal for Louis because it had a garden and a number of cats and he spent his last 15 years of life in peace. With the help of that atmosphere, Louis began to draw again. His work for those last 15 years were depictions of flowers, abstract patterns, and, of course, cats.
On July 4th, 1939, Louis Wain died at Napsbury Hospital. He was buried in his father's grave at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London.
Amazon is presenting Louis Wain's life story in a great film entitled The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Available at Amazon Prime Video.
Premiering on 2 September 2021, was released for Prime Video on November 5th, 2021.
Impressive performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as Louis Wain, Claire Foy as Emily Richardson-Wain and other great supporting acting by Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones, Hayley Squires, Stacy Martin and others. The original script was written by Simon Stephenson. Will Sharpe co-wrote and directed the film.
One can still see Wain's cats reproduced on classic greeting cards as well as his artwork in prints.
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