Louis Wain, who lived a very difficult life financially and spiritually; He is a very successful painter who devoted himself to cat drawings, created a cat style in his period and brought a completely different face to the art world in terms of cat sketches.
Let’s take a closer look at the extraordinary life story of the famous British artist.
Born on August 5, 1860, Louis Wain was born in London as the eldest of 6 children.
Louis, who was allegedly born with a cleft lip and therefore his family did not send him to school; When she started school after the age of 10, she was bullied by her classmates for being different.
Although Louis had not yet decided what kind of artist he would be, his ideas undoubtedly revolved around art. When he finished school, he lost his father, continued his education at the West London School of Art to take care of his mother and sisters, and started to earn money by teaching.
The only goal of Louis, who is a very talented painter; With his pen in hand, he was quickly drawing everything he saw.
Louis, who left home at the age of 21 and wanted to practice this art freely, rented an apartment for himself. His first work was a painting of bullfinchs, published in a magazine on December 10, 1881.
He then continued to submit his drawings to the magazine and in 1886 took a job in a full-time position for The Illustrated London News. Louis became known for his animal portraits here and was commissioned to draw many dogs.
At the age of 23, Louis Wain married Emily Richardson, who was 10 years older than him.
Their relationship was considered scandalous in a way, due to Emily’s advanced age and lower social status than Louis. Louis and Emily’s happy days were short lived when Emily was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.
The fame that Louis would achieve with his cat drawings started at this point. The desperate lover was painting pictures of Peter, their pet cat, to cheer up his wife.
Emily asked Louis’s office to convert these sketches that his wife had drawn for him, and these cat pictures were published in the newspapers.
The illustration “The Kitten’s Christmas Party” created by Louis received great acclaim during the period. This artist was also asked to be responsible for the illustrations for a children’s book. For Louis, who was on this path with the strength he received from his art, this was a great success.
Just as the young painter was beginning to climb the ladder of success, his wife passed away on January 2, 1887. For Louis, who lost the love of his life at the age of 26, this art became more of a struggle with his grief rather than an enjoyable activity.
In these first drawings, which he started to make to vent his anger, the painter’s cats, whose art evolved in another direction, wore evening dresses, wore glasses and started to smoke cigars.
In addition, bright colors and fractal patterns began to come to the fore in these paintings over time. Cat portraits had lost their cute look and became a scary figure. Some paintings even evoked everything but a cat.
In addition, the death of his youngest sister, Marie, in a mental hospital in 1901, shook Louis once again, but he continued to practice his art.
Carrying his passion into a business, Louis’s poems and stories, as well as his drawings, continued to be published in various media for many years under the name of “Louis Wain’s Yearbook”.
However, his financial gains did not satisfy him and he went to New York in hopes of improving his earnings.
In New York, an offer was sent to Louis to create the “Cats About Town” and “Grimalkin” comics, and the young painter was starting to cling to life again. But soon after, his mother passed away and he had to return to England.
Subsequently, the eldest of her siblings, Caroline, passed away, and these successive deaths began to make Louis a paranoid person. The painter, whose condition was not going well, saw a doctor in 1924 and it was found that his mental health was not very good. It was now the poor ward of Springfiel Hospital.
Louis Wain was initially diagnosed with schizophrenia, but discussions continued on this subject.
While some point out that the painter’s style changed as his mental state worsened as he got older; others have made claims that his continued skill in drawing may potentially be autistic, rather than his original diagnosis of schizophrenia.
One year later, Dan Rider, one of the journalists of the time, found Louis Wain drawing in a mental hospital.
Annoyed by this situation, Dan started a fund for the painter to spend the rest of his days in peace. This call caused quite a stir and Louis was transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital in August 1925.
Here he was able to continue his art and his drawings of 80 cat figures were exhibited in a gallery. Subsequently, Louis was transferred to Napsbury Hospital in the country and spent his life making art among trees and gardens. When the date showed July 4, 1939, he died at the age of 70.
The life and art of Louis Wain found its place on the big screen.
The movie “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, successfully deals with the life story of Louis Wain.
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