Louis Wain Fact #62:
There was a popular joke in the 1910s which referred to Wain, and appeared in several newspapers and novels at the time.
The joke’s setup has a woman looking to have her portrait painted, and asks someone for an artist recommendation. The person she is talking to, typically male, then responds with “Louis Wain.”
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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)