Louis Wain Fact #15:
Although many of Louis Wain’s illustrations are timeless classics, he was also quite a popular illustrator when it came to topical subjects. He had produced fad illustrations relating to World War I, The Harrogate sulphur-water craze, Women’s suffrage, Diabolos, the Japan-British Exhibition, the Ping Pong craze of 1903, and rarely, cat caricatures of contemporary theatre celebrities.
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On loan from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, catalogued by Patricia Allderidge.
108. GINGER CAT
Coloured pencil on paper
Inscribed on verso: F. Deuxbery, Mr. Louis Wain. Sept 1931
Date: September 1931
10" x 7"
The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital Health Authority (Guttman-Maclay Collection)
This picture was drawn at Napsbury Hospital where the previous owner, Mr Deuxbery, was one of the nurses who looked after Wain. The background is presumably an example of the 'wallpaper patterns', so-called by the staff of Napsbury: in the early 30s Wain is said to have stopped drawing cats at all for a while, and drawn only these patterns, though he soon returned to cats.