Louis Wain Fact #68:
Beyond his immense influence in the realm of cat art, Wain had many artistic influences of his own. He particularly cited Edward Henry Corbould’s comedic drawing as keeping him “happy through many a gloomy period, and [setting his] own work going again.” Other artists he drew inspiration from include William Hogarth, Gottfried Mind, A. Cheyère, and John Tenniel, and in recent years many prints and postcards of their work have been mislabelled as Wain’s.
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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.