Louis William Wain’s life story is quite a tragic one. He was a prominent artist for a while, but a succession of terrible financial mistakes left him bankrupt, and he started to have mental health issues early in the 20th century.
“A Kittens’ Christmas Party”, Wain’s first illustration of anthropomorphized feline, was featured in the 1886 “Illustrated London News” Christmas Edition.
Wain was a productive artist over the following 30 years. He generated hundreds of drawings each year and created illustrations for over 100 children’s books.
Wain was confined to a destitute unit at the mental facility in Tooting in 1924 when his siblings could no longer deal with his unpredictable and occasionally violent behavior.
Several of Louis Wain’s cats’ paintings have been used as illustrations in psychology classes to ostensibly demonstrate how his style changed as his mental health deteriorated.
Louis Wain’s art reawakened interest in the 1960s, and psychedelia lovers marveled at how he was able to create these psychedelic visions without using any drugs.
Wain’s abilities as a draughtsman remained apparent throughout his condition, leading to speculation that he was suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum condition.
Whatever disease he had, he did not ‘lose himself in it: his passion for cats and his unique creative skill remained undiminished during his stay in the hospital.