Cat Reaching and Playing with a Hanged carton

Louis Wain was one of the most popular commercial illustrators in the history of England. Born in 1860, his anthropomorphic portrayals of cats captured the imagination of the Edwardian era, and his work helped to elevate the profile and popularity of our feline friends to unprecedented heights. Before Wain, cats in England were often thought of with contempt, but his work humanised them and helped to show them as something to be liked, admired and even loved.

His illustrations were so popular that throughout the beginning of the twentieth century, most homes had at least one of his famous cat annuals and many nurseries had Wain posters hanging on their walls. “He made the cat his own” H.G. Wells once remarked. “He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world.”

Today, his work continues to attract interest, but his legacy is based more on his struggles with mental health than the work that he created. While never officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, many people believe that he suffered from this condition, and some have argued that his later drawings demonstrate his psychotic deterioration. While this is certainly a fascinating aspect of his work, it is only one part of a greater story; we should be careful not to allow it to overshadow the fascinating work he created during his lifetime.

Surprisingly, Wain never started out wanting to be a cat illustrator. Early on in his career, he had felt that nobody would take him seriously if he just drew pictures of cats, and so his initial ambition was to be a press artist. In his early years, he specialised in drawing animals and country scenes, and he had work published in several journals, including the popular Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.

It wasn’t until 1884, when Wain was twenty-four, that he sold his first drawing of a cat to The Illustrated London News. Two years after this, he got his first real taste of success when he was commissioned to illustrate a children’s book for Macmillan called Madame Tabby's Establishment (pictured above). Written by Caroline Hughes (under the pen-name Kari), his illustrations seem a lot more traditional and sober when compared to his later work. Yet even in these early examples, we can see signs of his ability to give a cat a personality and a playful nature.

Despite the happiness seen throughout his work, the tale of Wain’s interest in cats is sadly a tragic one. In 1883 Wain married Emily Richardson. Not long after the couple wed, Emily became unwell. Over the course of her prolonged illness, the illustrator sketched their cat as a way to keep her spirits up. She must have been delighted when, in the Autumn of 1886, she saw their cat depicted in Kari’s book. There must have been even more reason for joy when a few months later Wain was commissioned again by The Illustrated London News to draw more illustrations based on their cat. His work, ‘A Kitten’s Christmas Party’ was hugely popular and a great success. It set Wain on the road to artistic and commercial greatness, but, sadly, he was unable to enjoy this accomplishment as – a few months later – Emily passed away.

The effects of this tragedy had a huge impact on Wain, and he became increasingly more inward-looking. As his success went from strength to strength, he continued to struggle with anxiety and depression, and despite his professional accomplishments, his personal life was never quite the same again.