Louis Wain Fact #72:
Wain was often cited as the author of “A Vagabond in New York,” a controversial newspaper column written by an anonymous Englishman in America, often being insulting and apparently Anti-American. However, Wain merely wrote in to a newspaper a few times regarding the Vagabond, and the public conflated the Vagabond’s writing and Wain’s own unrelated travels in America. This confusion would be mostly resolved when Oliver Hueffer compiled his writings in a book, coming out as the true author.
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The Eight 'Kaleidoscope' pictures on loan from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, catalogued by Patricia Allderidge.
General note: These pictures have been shown together in one amount for many years and were presumably arranged like this by Dr Maclay. Although it is known that he found 'some' pictures by Louis Wain in a shop in Camden Hill it is not certain how many of these were included, and nothing is known of their origin or when any of them were painted. The order in which they are seen here is entirely artificial.
107. PATTERN
Coloured pencil and paper
8 7/8" x 6 7/8"
It is debatable whether this pattern is based on a cat at all, though taken in sequence with the preceding one it seem to contain the same rudimentary shapes of ears and eyes.
(This image also appears in the book upside-down. Since there is no obvious discernible image such as a cat, it is up to the viewers interpretation which direction the image should be viewed in)