Louis Wain at Nunnington Hall
The Mother of Triplets.
Anyone in the vicinity of Nunnington Hall in North Yorkshire over the next month has the opportunity to view and—if you’re wealthy enough—buy some pictures by Victorian cat artist Louis Wain (1860–1939). Wain is famously “The Cat Artist Who Went Mad” (as Chris Beetles’ gallery site puts it) and that piece of knowledge always comes to the fore when looking at his anthropomorphised felines with their huge eyes and often scowling expressions. The excellent Beetles gallery has an overview of the works on display at Nunnington. For the really eccentric stuff, however, you’ll have to go here.
Louis Wain at Nunnington Hall runs until September 13, 2009.
• Catland: The art of Louis Wain
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Marbled papers
• A Madmen’s Museum
• The art of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, 1736–1783
7 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by mr.kenneth
Aug 11th, 2009
Nick Cave is a long time admirer/collector of Louis Wain’s work.
During a recent Oz touring exhibition of Cave’s notebooks, photos of and other ephemera from over the years, lots of Wain originals featured in the background of various photos. There were also a few books too!
For years I wondered who did this distinctive cat work, and due to that exhibition I found out …
#2 posted by John
Aug 11th, 2009
I didn’t know Nick Cave liked Wain’s work. David Tibet of Current 93 is also a great enthusiast and has used Wain drawings on some of his numerous releases.
#3 posted by Wiley
Aug 11th, 2009
- And, since David Tibet and Thomas Ligotti have collaborated in the past, the next time they re-release one of Ligotti’s rarer collections, though at this point they are all somewhat rare, they should illustrate the book using Wain’s pictures, starting with the cute/cartoonish and progressing into the abstract schizophrenic.
Wasn’t that what he eventually succumbed to mentally?
#4 posted by John
Aug 12th, 2009
Schizophrenia seems to be the assumption now, and many of those fractal drawings certainly look like the typical product of someone with that mental condition.
#5 posted by JulesLt
Aug 30th, 2009
Thanks – we took a trip up to Nunnington Hall this weekend – I’d have missed it if it wasn’t for this post.
#6 posted by John
Aug 30th, 2009
Hi Jules. Glad to hear it, thanks for letting me know.
#7 posted by Paul hussey
Feb 16th, 2010
May I invite all Louis Wain fans to my hobby website.
I have one of the largest collections of Louis Wain art which I have on display at my website and also I have written his life story which is also on display at my website.
http://www.fabprints.com/LW.html
http://www.fabprints.com/LWLIFE.html