Louis Wain

Louis William Wain (5 August 1860 – 4 July 1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphized large-eyed cats and kittens. Later in life, he was confined to mental institutions and struggled with mental illness.

Life

Early life

Wain was born on 5 August 1860 in Clerkenwell in London. His father, William Matthew Wain (1825–1880), was a textile trader and embroiderer; his mother, Julie Felicite Boiteux (1833–1910), was French. He was the first of six children and the only male child. None of his five sisters—Caroline E. M. (1862–1917), Josephine F. M. (1864–1939), Marie L. (1867–1913), Claire M. (1868–1945), and Felicie J. (1871–1940)—ever married. At 34 years old, his sister Marie was declared insane. She was admitted to an asylum in 1901, where she died in 1913. The remaining sisters lived with their mother for the duration of her life.

Wain was born with a cleft lip; a doctor told his parents that he should not be sent to school or taught until he was ten. As a youth, he was often truant from school and spent much of his childhood wandering around London. He subsequently studied at the West London School of Art and was eventually a teacher there for a short period. At the age of 20, he was left to support his mother and his five sisters after his father's death in 1880. He moved out from home and rented a furnished room when in 1881 he had his first drawing—''Bullfinches on Laurel Bushes''—published in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.

Artistic career

Wain soon quit his teaching position to become a freelance artist. In this role, he achieved great success. He specialized in drawing animals and country scenes, and worked for several journals including the ''Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'', where he stayed for four years; and ''The Illustrated London News'', where he began in 1886. Through the 1880s, his work included detailed illustrations of English country houses and estates, and livestock he was commissioned to draw at agricultural shows. His work at this time included a wide variety of animals, and he maintained his ability to draw creatures of all kinds throughout his lifetime. At one point, he hoped to make a living by drawing dog portraits.

At 23, Wain married his sisters' governess, Emily Richardson, who was ten years his senior (which was considered scandalous at the time) and moved with her to Hampstead in north London. She soon began to suffer from breast cancer and died three years later. Prior to her death, Wain discovered the subject that would define his career. During her illness, Emily was comforted by their pet cat Peter, a stray black-and-white kitten whom they rescued when they heard him meowing in the rain one night. Wain drew extensive sketches of Peter, which Emily encouraged him to have published. He later wrote of Peter, "To him, properly, belongs the foundation of my career, the developments of my initial efforts, and the establishing of my work." Peter can be recognized in many of Wain's early published works.

In 1886, Wain's first drawing of anthropomorphized cats, ''A Kitten's Christmas Party,'' was published in the Christmas issue of the ''Illustrated London News''. The magazine editor, Sir William Ingram, commissioned Wain to create this work, which probably represented the peak of his fame. It depicted 150 cats, many of which resembled Peter, engaged in activities such as sending invitations, holding a ball, playing games, and making speeches. It spread across eleven panels. The cats remain on all fours, unclothed, and without the variety of human-like expression which would characterize Wain's later work.

Shortly after the success of ''A Kitten’s Christmas Party,'' Emily died on January 2, 1887. After her death, Wain began to suffer from depression and cats soon became an obsession for him. As a result, the style in which he depicted them started to change. Emily’s death and future tragic events in his life—the death of his cat Peter and one of his sisters—most likely contributed to his mental breakdown.

From 1906 to 1916, the widowed Louis Wain and his extended family lived in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, as a tenant of his patron, Sir William Ingram. A blue plaque at Westgate Bay Avenue marks his time there.

In subsequent years, his cats began to walk upright, smile broadly and use other exaggerated facial expressions, and wear sophisticated, contemporary clothing. He illustrated cats playing musical instruments, serving tea, playing cards, fishing, smoking, and enjoying nights at the opera. Such anthropomorphic portrayals of animals were popular in Victorian England and were often found in prints, on greeting cards and in satirical illustrations such as those of John Tenniel.

Over the next 30 years, Wain was a prolific artist. He produced as many as several hundred drawings a year, and he illustrated about 100 children's books. His work appeared in papers, journals and magazines, including the ''Louis Wain Annual'', which ran from 1901 to 1915. His work was also reproduced on picture postcards, now highly valued collectors' items. In 1898 and 1911 he was chairman of the National Cat Club.

Wain's illustrations often parody human behaviour, satirizing fads and fashions of the day. He wrote, "I take a sketch-book to a restaurant, or other public places, and draw the people in their different positions ''as cats'', getting as near to their human characteristics as possible. This gives me ''doubly'' nature, and these studies I think o bemy best humorous work."

Wain was involved with several animal charities, including the Governing Council of Our Dumb Friends League, the Society for the Protection of Cats, and the Anti-Vivisection Society. As mentioned earlier, he was active in the National Cat Club, and served as its president and chairman. He felt that he helped "to wipe out the contempt in which the cat has been held" in England.

Despite his popularity, Wain suffered financial difficulty throughout his life. He remained responsible for supporting his mother and sisters and had little business sense. He was modest, naive, easily exploited, and ill-equipped for bargaining in the world of publishing. He often sold his drawings outright, retaining no rights over their reproduction. He was easily misled and found himself duped by the promise of a new invention or other money-making schemes.

He travelled to New York in 1907, where he drew some comic strips, such as ''Cats About Town'' and ''Grimalkin'', for newspapers owned by the Hearst Corporation. His work was widely admired, although his critical attitude towards the city made him the subject of sniping in the press. He returned home with even less money, due to his imprudent investment in a new type of oil lamp.

Circa 1914, Wain created a number of ceramic pieces produced by Amphora Ceramics. Dubbed the "futurist cat", the pieces were of cats and dogs in angular shapes and with geometrical markings. They are considered to be in the Cubist art style.

Later life

It must be noted that Wain's presumed schizophrenia should not be attributed to toxoplasmosis, a disease precipitated by the parasite ''Toxoplasma gondii'', which is excreted by cats in their faeces. The old theory that toxoplasmosis can trigger schizophrenia, and which can be traced back as early as the mid-20th century, has been widely contested, for there is no solid evidence that supports the idea that toxoplasmosis may affect people's behaviour; and although research on the field continues, currently the connection between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis seems to be a myth rather than a fact.free full text
/ref> It must also be noted that Wain was not the only person in his family afflicted by a mental disorder.

In 1924, when his sisters could no longer cope with his erratic, and sometimes violent behaviour, Wain was committed to a pauper ward at the Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting. When Wain was discovered there a year later, his circumstances were widely publicized, leading to appeals from such figures as H. G. Wells