#Louis wain kaleidoscope cat series

He was one of the pioneers of the strip cartoon but he invested his money in an unsuccessful business venture and returned to England as badly off as when he left. I didn’t know that he’d travelled to the USA in 1907 and created two successful comic strips, Grimalkin and Cats About Town. He often gave away his rights and unscrupulous publishers too k advantage. He bacme a celebrity and it has been estimated that may have created 150,000 drawings and illustrations in his lifetime.Unfortunately, although Wain’s drawings and illustrations were enormously popular he was not a good businessman. He became President of the National Cat Club and spoke affectionately of cats and their beneficial effects on humans. The Louis Wain cat was born and with his increasing success Wain soon became regarded as a cat expert. He watched the kitten’s antics and Peter became Wain’s chief model and the first Louis Wain cat drawing appeared in print on 18th October 1884. A black and white kitten ,named Peter came into the Wain household and Louis never looked back attributing his entire career to Peter. Wain’s lifelong fascination with felines began after his wife, Emily, was diagnosed with breast cancer and was bedridden for the last 3 years of her life.

He sold his first freelance drawing in 1881 but it wasn’t of cats. After his father’s death, he became the breadwinner by supporting his mother and five sisters. Louis Wain was born on 5th August 1860 and from an early age, planned to draw for a living and he became an art teacher. The archetypical Wain cat has a glint in his eye and a smile on his face. Under his pen they walk on two legs, wear fashionable clothes and enjoy everyday activities such as tea parties, attending school and sports. It could be said that Wain created his own kind of cat.

Cat Compendium would also make a wonderful introduction to anyone who has just discovered the delights of Wain’s gung-ho, happy felines. Sixty illustrations, some of which I hadn’t previously seen with the rare article by Waim himself on ‘How I draw my cats.’ make this a n invaluable addition to a Wain bookshelf. With a wealth of Wain's most famous drawings, as well as rare writings by and about the artist, this is an ideal book for both Wain fans and cat-lovers in general.Īny avid Louis Wain fan, as I am, will enjoy this gorgeous little book. The artist never entirely recovered his health, but he was eventually moved to a better home, where he continued to draw and paint almost until his death in 1939.

When his fate was discovered in 1925, the Royal Family and the Prime Minister joined a national campaign to rescue Wain. He ended up in a provincial asylum, sketching psychedelic cats that were more fiend-like than feline. But after he lost his fortune, he lost his mind.

#Louis wain kaleidoscope cat series

From humble beginnings, Wain became a hugely successful popular artist, creating the Louis Wain Annual series and the first ever animated cat character, later acknowledged as the inspiration for Mickey Mouse. His pictures are widely available today as decorative motifs and popular prints, but in his day, the man dubbed the 'Hogarth of cat life' was a celebrity who sold thousands of drawings and paintings to an insatiable public. Louis Wain drew cats: cats playing poker, boxing, playing cricket, and doing almost any human activity.