![]() ![]() Watercolour.Īs an artist, Louis Wain was both prolific and popular. Louis Wain, ‘Three kittens preparing for exhibition’. Original drawing for illustration in the ‘Illustrtaed London News’, p.521, Volume 101, 1892. Louis Wain, ‘Kitten Life at the Cat Show’. Louis Wain was chairman of the National Cat Club who celebrated different breeds of cats through competitions and shows. Drawing by Louis Waint, produced for Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., ca.1900-1910.Īt this time cats were becoming more accepted as pampered pets, rather than just as useful rodent killers. Design for a picture postcard, showing kittens playing on a beach. Drawing by Louis Wain, produced for Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., ca.1900-10. Drawing for an illustration, showing a group of ‘cat people’ being introduced on a country road. This became his recognisable style, and made cats seem friendly and sympathetic. Pencil and wash.īy the late 1880s, Wain had begun to anthropomorphise the cats, creating humorous scenes of felines in human clothes or participating in activities like building sand castles at the beach. Original drawings (11 on 1 sheet) for illustration in the ‘Illustrated London News’, p. Louis Wain, ‘A Kitten’s Christmas Party’. Among them is A Kitten’s Christmas Party, which appeared in a December 1886 issue of the Illustrated London News and was sensationally popular, boosting Wain’s reputation and making his designs more desirable. These drawings show Wain’s skill at capturing the physicality of cats, their movements and features. Louis Wain recalls Ingram, “… to whose kindly interest I owe the foundation of my success…”. Ingram ran the ‘The Illustrated London News’ and gave Wain regular illustration work for the paper from the mid 1880s. The V&A has several works given by Sir William Ingram in 1914. ![]() The ninth design in a series of nine illustrating the nine lives of a cat, published on page 9 of ‘Lloyd’s Weekly News’ 27 August 1905. The sixth design in a series of nine illustrating the nine lives of a cat, published on page 9 of ‘Lloyd’s Weekly News’ 6 August 1905. The sixth life ran its course unexpected into the seventh, & the cat was saved at the last moment.’. The fifth design in a series of nine illustrating the nine lives of a cat, published on page 9 of ‘Lloyd’s Weekly News’ 30 July 1905. The fourth design in a series of nine illustrating the nine lives of a cat, published on page 9 of ‘Lloyd’s Weekly News’ 23 July 1905. The third design in a series of nine illustrating the nine lives of a cat, published on page 9 of ‘Lloyd’s Weekly News’ 16 July 1905. These works are humorous, even though Wain, like many living in the 19th century, had a life marred by the early deaths of family members, including his wife after only a few years of marriage. In the the final one of the series the cat has run out of lives and is in cat heaven, where there is an abundance of food and other comforts. In life number three a cat modelled on Peter is poisoned by bad milk. The figure of Peter appears in several works we have in the collection from a series depicting a cat’s nine lives. According to Wain, Peter was the “principal model and the pioneer of my success”. Louis Wain initially drew many different kinds of animals, but was inspired to concentrate on cats by making a close study of his own black and white cat, Peter the Great. Cats were Louis Wain’s main fascination and inspiration throughout most of his life as can be seen in the new film about him that opened in cinemas this month. Stumbling across a single image of a cat in the collection is always a delight, but if you want a large quantity of kitties, then delve in to our boxes of illustrations by artist Louis Wain (1860 – 1939). Talk can quickly turn from photographs to felines, from paintings to pussycats. ![]() I work in the V&A’s Department of Art, Architecture, Photography and Design, and it is full of cat lovers. ![]()
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