Cats at Every Corner
To my surprise, what would I find when looking for a place to sit down and do some research but an illustration exhibit… all about CATS! As this is the year of the tiger it only seems destined that I should stumble upon such a feline find.
Anyone who knows my family and I understands that we’ve always had cats. They are one of the family. I apologize if you are a dog only kind of person but encourage you to read this post. It might just change your mind! Or at least you'll learn something you didn’t know before.
As I walked around Cabbage Town earlier this week one of the paintings towards the 365 for this year was of this charming cat sitting on the top step of its townhouse.
A few days prior I admired a stunning mural painted by artist Uber 5000 on the side of the Toronto Humane Society.
It features a variety of different animals you could adopt inside the building. Located at 11 River Street and I highly recommend it to those who can go and check it out.
Back to what really caught my eye was the “Adventures in Catlands” Exhibition from the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books at the Lillian H. Smith Public Library in Toronto. It featured the work of Louis Wain, one of my favorites.
Some of you may know him from “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”, a comedy drama movie that came out in 2021 featuring notable cast members Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, and Taika Waititi.
(It received 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, has pretty good reviews and I greatly enjoyed it. If you decide to watch it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.)
For those who may not, let me give you a brief biography on this incredible artist and illustrator.
“ He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world.”
As an illustrator his work mainly consisted of large eyed cats and kittens. His images “Catland” where cats are featured within human situations popularized cats in many English speaking parts of the world.
Although he was successful, Wain's life was not easy. At the age of 20 his father died leaving him the breadwinner, as the only son taking care of his 5 unmarried sisters and widowed mother. He left teaching at the West London School of Art becoming a freelance artist when he moved back home. He ended up marrying his sister governess, Emily Richardson, who was 10 years his senior. Scandalous for the time! A short while after their wedding Emily was diagnosed with cancer. During her illness she took great comfort from a stray cat the couple adopted and named Peter. Wain took to sketching Peter and Emily encouraged him to submit his work “A Kitten's Christmas Party”. He did and it was an immediate sensation! Louis Wain became famous overnight but sadly Emily died a week later.
For the next 20 years of his life Louis Wain would struggle to secure copyright for his work. Although his images were in demand he never made much money. As he got older he began to display signs of mental illness. In 1924, his sisters committed him to Springfield Hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. When a fan discovered where he was a year later he started a fundraising campaign to move him to a nicer facility. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and science-fiction author H. G. Wells assisted with raising funds. Wain was eventually moved to Napsbury, a pleasant rural hospital where he would continue to draw cats until his death in 1939 at the age of 78.
“Adventures in Catlands”
August 2 to October 14
Lillian H. Smith Public Library
On top of the beautiful display at the Lillian H. Smith Library I was able to request other materials they had of Louis Wain’s in the archival collection. I gently turned the pages on some of Wain's beginning work dating back to 1900.
I couldn’t help but connect the “Adventures in Catlands” exhibit to my childhood. If you grew up watching the Aristocats you'll see the connections that both works use cats to teach its viewers life lessons. Cats really are just little people with fur coats. Wain's work predates this animated film by decades, as it was released in 1970. Apparently the story of a family of cats receiving someone's full inheritance is something that happened within my own relations. I won’t go into the specific juicy details but if you're ever curious ask me sometime.
(Side Note: Yes, it is confirmed that Disney is in the early stages of making Aristocats into a live action movie. I only have my fingers crossed that it is nothing, and I mean nothing like the Cats movie that was released in 2019.)
This week truly has had cats around every corner and I am 100% here for it.
**The information listed above was knowledge I already knew and others discussed with staff at the Lillian H. Smith Public Library**
**I would like to state that Louis Wain’s diagnosis of schizophrenia is a disputed topic. I am only stating what I have come to understand. His work is used as examples in psychological textbooks and the diagnosed condition is a continued conversation to this day.**
** Thank you for reading! I promise my next post will be about the start to my Watson and what I have discovered so far! I just had to write this! **
