So Very Sad
Louis Wain, The Fire Of The Mind Ignites The Atmosphere.
Louis Wain is one of my favorite artists. His anthropomorphic cats are a delight, and I have been aware of him most of my life.
But not because of his art.
Louis Wain is often used as an example of a deteriorating schizophrenic. A very well known series of drawings have been widely used to illustrate his descent into madness.
These supposedly show his increasing break with reality. What we have not been told is that the geometric designs are intended for tiles, and have been presented out of chronologic order. He was hospitalized, but some think he suffered from Asperger's syndrome and not adult onset schizophrenia.
Wain was born with a cleft palate and a doctor told his parents not to let him go to school until age 10, why I do not know. He would spend his days wandering around London. He eventually attended the London School of Art. He became a professional artist. To amuse his dying wife, he started drawing Peter, their cat, wearing glasses and reading. Peter was adopted after he was heard mewing in the rain, a lost kitten.
Peter.
His cat drawings were very popular and much loved.
I suspect these cats of Fenian sympathies!
After Wain's behavior became violent towards his sister, he was hospitalized. H.G.Wells and Stanley Baldwin, of all people, got him moved into decent surroundings. He died in 1939, still drawing cats.
You get the idea.
This cat looking bothered by something crops up many times in his pre-commitment art.
A number of these are on the Titanic.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Wain.
Farewell.
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