LOUIS WAIN (1860-1939)


BE DAD AN' WE'LL LOVE YER! T. P. O'CONNOR TO A. BIRRELL: "CHOOSE YOUR STICK AND BE ONE OF US"	CATASTROPHIES ARE "OFF" IN 1902 TAKE CARE HOW YOU STEP INTO THE NEW YEAR	MAN AND HIS MASTER SHE: 'WHAT AN AWFULLY PRETTY GIRL!' HE: 'AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS, EH?'

THE QUACK DOCTOR 'THIS LOTION IS A POSITIVE CURE FOR SCRATCHES AND BRUISES. IT RESTORES FUR AND ALL OTHER INJURIES AFTER A FIGHT.'	PHRENOLOGY INQUISITIVE CLIENT: 'YOU ARE A GOOD PHRENOLOGIST. NOW, HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR THAT LAWN MARK DOWN MY HEAD?' PHRENOLOGIST: 'ROTTEN ROW, SIR!'	IT TAKES ALL SORTS

K. LITTLE KATLEEN, OUT WITH HER KITE, IT BROKE FROM THE STRING, AND FLEW OUT OF SIGHT	MISTLETOE FOR YOU	THE BANGED DOOR

BROUGHT A TEAR TO HIS EYE	WHO GOES THERE?	SKATING ON THIN ICE

WHEN SUDDENLY THE LECTURE PLATFORM BECAME TOO HOT TO HOLD HIM	DADDY CAN YOU LET ME PAST ON YOUR LOVE TO MOTHER FROM ME	THE WAITER

CAT AMONGST THE FLOWERS	THE GHOST STORY	CHINCHILLA PERSIAN

IF I'M NOT CAREFUL SIS I WILL MARRY HIM BEFORE I DIE.I AM NOT SUCH A FOOL AS I LOOK.	I'M SURE IT'S EASY!	ASTONISHED

PORTRAIT OF A CAT	"WOW" GOT A "MUMMY" ONE, AHA!	CATS AND HOLLY

AFTER THE FOOTBALL MATCH	MAMA SAYS THAT IF I DIG THE COAL OVER I SHALL FIND OUT WHERE THE MILK COMES FROM	THE DISGRUNTLED CAT

ONE EYE ON YOU	MORNING. PLAYTIME	GINGER FLOWER CAT

IN THE WARS	GIVE ME THE MONEY FOR ANOTHER DRESS HARRY	I SPY MICE

GETTING MY SKATES ON	T'IS SAID THAT A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING, IN THIS CASE IT SMILES ON A QUEEN	THE APPROACH

THE PUTT	THE DRIVE	THE GREEN

STARRY EYED CAT	CHEEKY CAT	MOUSE PIE!

MY FIRST SPEECH	PLAYING BALL	CATS' CHORUS

DRESSED FOR DINNER	BEEN THROUGH THE WARS	A GAME OF SNOOKER

PRETTY GIRL THAT, SAYS TOM	LAUGHING CATS	EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT ONCE!

A CHANGE! WHAT A LOVELY BRUNETTE. YES, ONE CAN SCARCELY RECOGNISE HER, SHE WAS A BLONDE SO LONG!	COCKBIRD. WELL! WELL! WELL! YOU ARE A FUNNY HEN. DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE GOING TO HATCH OUT KITTENS	PLAYING JENGA

TALLY-HO !	A GOOD READ	A FREE LECTURE IN CATVILLE

CAT WITH A MONOCLE	CUT OFF THEIR TAILS AND MAKE MANX MEAT OF THEM	LAUGHING CAT

THE BARRISTER	THE DEBUTANTE HER FIRST SEASON	JACK'S LITTLE MARRY IS UPSET, THROW PHYSICS TO THE DOGS

A WET LANDING	THE BOOT	THE MOUSE'S REVENGE

CHICKS AND VIOLETS	BLUE TUFTED BIRD AND BEARD IRISES	THE PURPLE HERON FROM THE HIGH MOUNTAINS

THE GENTLE WIFE 'NO SIGN OF THAT 'BRIDGE' PARTY BREAKING UP YET; MY JACK MUST BE WINNING'	A GOOD TRICK	A MAD RUSH

HE - I WENT TO THE ZOO YESTERDAY - SHE - MY WORD! I WENT THERE TOO LOOKING FOR YOU WHICH CAGE WERE YOU IN?	THE CONFIDENCE TRICK BAFFLED - SHARP CAT: 'I THINK WE HAVE MET BEFORE, MR CAT' - MRS CAT: 'HAVE YOU MET ME ALSO?' - SHARP CAT: 'NO, MADAM, I AM SORRY TO SAY I HAVE NOT HAD THAT PLEASURE' - MRS CAT: 'THEN YOU HAVE NOT MET MY HUSBAND'	IN THE VINEYARD

THREE'S A CROWD	T'IS SAID 'A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING'. IN THIS CASE IT LOOKS AT A QUEEN.	THE PIG'S FAIR

GETTING READY	THE CAT WHO IS ALWAYS ILL	CHRISTMAS PUDDING

A REAL TOFF	WHITE TIE AND TAIL	LAW IN ACTION

LOUIS WAIN (1860-1939)

‘he invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world’ – H G Wells

Louis Wain was born in London on 5 August 1860. His father was a textile salesman and his mother designed carpets and church fabrics. A sickly child, he was educated at the Orchard Street Foundation, Hackney, and at St Joseph’s Academy, Kennington. He trained at the West London School of Art (1877-80), remaining there as an assistant teacher until 1882. From his father’s death in 1880, he had to support first his mother and five younger daughters and soon after a sick wife. He supplemented his income by working as a freelance illustrator (initially influenced by Caldecott and May), and in 1882 he joined the staff of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. He began to make his name with humorous cat drawings, primarily in the Illustrated London News, the staff of which he joined in 1886. He was the first to work consistently within the convention of depicting clothed and standing animals. His anthropomorphic vision of the world soon brought him much fame and as a result he was elected President of the National Cat Club in 1891. However, he was not a good businessman, and in 1907 he was sued for debt. In the same year he moved to the United States to make a new start, producing strip cartoons for the New York American (1907-10). Back in England, he experimented with animation in 1917, in a film to be called Pussyfoot, but he did not proceed with the project. After the death of his sister Caroline in 1917, he suffered a mental decline, becoming a schizophrenic, as his work clearly revealed. ‘His cats became frenzied and jagged, sometimes disappearing into kaleidoscopic shapes’ (Frances Spalding). When, in 1925, he was found in the pauper’s ward of Middlesex County Mental Asylum, an appeal was launched on his behalf, and he was transferred to a comfortable room with his paints in the Bethlem Royal Hospital, Southwark. The appeal reached twice the target sum in a month - a sign of the public’s continuing affection - and despite poverty and mental illness he retained for many years the position of President of the National Cat Club. He died in Napsbury Hospital, near St Albans, on 4 July 1939.

The definitive biography of Louis Wain, The Man Who Drew Cats by Rodney Dale, is jointly published by Chris Beetles Ltd and O’Mara Books.

LOUIS WAIN (1860-1939)

LOUIS WAIN (1860-1939)

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