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Cat Collectables- Louis Wain Art
During the Victorian era cats became a favoured subject for many illustations on postcards or in books. Many lithographs of Victorian times depict children with a cat, often with a large bow around its neck.
Among the artists who became famed for their cats was Louis Wain, an Englishman whose fascination with cats and his delightful drawings helped popularise them as a family pet in Victorian households.
Louis Wain was a teacher in a London art school when his wife, Emily, became ill with cancer. During her illness she was comforted by her pet cat, Peter, and of an evening Louis would sketch the cat Shortly before her death Emily persuaded him to send some of his drawings to magazines and newspapers and, in a time when cats were a popular subject, Louis Wain became the cat artist in England.
Louis' reputation as an artist gave him undeserved credibility as an authority on cats and in 1980 he was elected as the President of the National Cat Club. His position focused attention on cats at a time when cat shows were becoming established and new breeds developed.
Despite Louis popularity he sold his sketches too cheaply and often paid his bills by sketching a creditor's cat. Louis became obsessed with cats to the point that he drew them exclusively. He became reclusive and, with no friends and no finances, finally suffered a breakdown and was committed to the Middlesex County Asylum. A fund was started to assist him and such notable persons as H.G. Wells and the Prime Minister broadcast for donations to the fund.
Special exhibitions were held to sell his art and the demand, and subsequently the prices, increased. During this period his drawings altered from a portrait style to what psychiatrists refer to as "schizophrenic art" and even today his art is referred to by psychiatrists as an example of the stages of illness exhibited in drawings.
Louis Wain died in 1939 but his art remains very collectable and may be found on old postcards and in children's picture books, but his legacy to the cat remains in its status as a family member in so many households.