THREE CATS

Original watercolour and gouache painting on paper. A beautifully characterful portrait of three smiling cats, one grey, one black and white and one ginger. Signed to the lower left. Window mounted and framed under UV protective acrylic. The painting measures 30 x 13 cm and the frame measures 46.5 x 31 cm. Excellent condition, the paper lightly toned, the colours bright and clean. The mount and frame are in fine condition.

A superb, classic example of the highly expressive and distinctive cat illustrations of the British artist Louis Wain (1860-1939). Groups of three cats were a favourite subject of Wain's, with many examples available showing three cats of varying levels on anthropomorphism, realism and dress engaged in different activities available. The appeal of a trio may lie in the dynamism and energy of a group, with the pleasing compositional symmetry and relative simplicity of limiting the number to three. Wain began his career as an illustrator for various newspapers, but began creating caricatures of his cat Peter to amuse his wife while she was suffering from breast cancer in the 1880s. Though originally created privately, these anthropomorphic, often humorous cat illustrations were eventually published in newspapers, and before long the 'Louis Wain cat' became a hugely popular British icon, found gracing picture books, postcards and annuals. Unfortunately, with time, both Wain's mental health and financial situation deteriorated, and he was admitted to the pauper's ward of Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting in 1924. When he was discovered at the hospital by the bookseller Dan Ryder, a fundraising campaign was established to allow Wain to be moved to a more comfortable situation, which was supported by his many ardent fans as well as the prime minister Ramsay Macdonald and the science fiction writer H. G. Wells. In his statement of support broadcast on BBC radio, Wells stated that Wain "has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves". The campaign was successful and Wain was moved to Bethlem Hospital and then Napsbury Hospital in the Hertforshire countryside, where lived peacefully and continued to create art, usually featuring cats, until his death in 1939.