- meg13841
Louis Wain the Eccentric Cat Lover!
I think we are safe to assume if you have made it over to The Cat Track’s blog you too are lovers of felines? Well today’s blog is dedicated to a father of the ‘cat person’ phenomena…
If you do not know who Louis Wain is, you could say he was an artist, inventor, entrepreneur, caretaker and after adopting a stray kitten, he went on to paint the vastly known images of cats that made him world famous today.
Best known for his bizarre paintings and prints of cats doing human activities (playing golf or having tea) many of Wains’ works were featured in the journals of his time including Illustrating Sporting and the Illustrated London News!
Born on August 5, 1860 in London, Wain and his family had difficulty with mental health issues. Wain went on to study at the West London School of Art. His obsession with cats stemmed from an emotionally intense period in his life, a period where his wife was terminally ill. She becomes comforted when Wain brings home a stray kitten they name Peter. Peter was the subject of Wain’s first cat drawings and the impetus to his later work. The artist died on July 4, 1939 in St. Albans, United Kingdom. Today, his works are in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Berrington Hall in Herefordshire. Still renowned for being some of the best animal portraits to date.
In celebration of the late artist, Benedict Cumberbatch plays the eccentric gentleman in ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’ in cinemas from 29th December 2021. To see Cumberbatch’s portrayal is a splendid performance. Still out in your local cinemas it feels the perfect winter warmer for all cat and art lovers!
