Talk:Louis Wain

Notes

Myth of psycho cat artist busted http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/26/myth-of-psychotic-ca.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.231.46.31 (talk) 05:37, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I love that this article rates a B for the biography wikiproject, but only a C for cats! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.206.122.26 (talk) 11:20, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

moved from article

Would it be possible to add my Louis Wain 1860-1939 Funny Cats, Dogs, Birds, Pigs Art website to your Louis Wain External Links Section? I have one of the largest collections of his work on display ?

Title: Louis Wain Funny Cats, Dogs, Birds, Pigs on Art Prints.

Web: [1]

Many Thanks

Paul Hussey --10:11, 13 August 2009 82.25.149.205

unrepresentative picture

In the "Mental disorder" section, there is a picture of two cats that is captioned as being "unrepresentative" of some of Wain's later work. Shouldn't this picture be removed if it does not represent the artist's body of work?

Sofa jazz man (talk) 18:17, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

2 psychiatric points

It is understandable that this information was included, given that it comes from published sources, but as a psychiatrist I want to make 2 points to counter some misinformation: 1) The theory that toxoplasmosis may be a cause of schizophrenia, though not completely discounted, is very much not part of the common current medical understanding of schizophrenia. Connecting it to the case of Louis Wain seems an unlikely stretch. 2)More importantly, the current description of Asperger's disorder is totally inconsistent with Louis Wain's history of psychosis. Asperger's disorder is not a psychotic disorder,and it is a lifelong condition which does not explain a dramatic change in mental state in mid-life. Furthermore, there is nothing odd about a person with schizophrenia continuing to display talent and ability in visual arts. Because Asperger's is being diagnosed more frequently, I think it is particularly helpful to avoid misinformation about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jtclapacs (talk • contribs) 16:13, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

In the interest of removing disinformation I have made every attempt at capturing the objective history available into the current revision. Just as there is no strong proof of schizophrenia, there is no strong proof of lack of autism spectrum disorder. Just because a bunch of people claimed that an individual had schizophrenia and a dramatic change in mental state in mid-life does not mean that it is the case. The only sufficient proof would be recordings, such as gramophone or a reputable personal written journal from Louis Wain. I am currently working to research further into his life, but for now, I absolutely believe that it is far too judgmental and accurate to go claiming certainty of specific mood disorders on a famous artist that the article authors have never met.

75.93.148.86 (talk) 14:34, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if there is evidence of temporal lobe epilepsy caused by brain trauma from his omnibus fall in October 1914 with his use of vivid colours and psychedelic imagery. There is material that relates to Van Goghs artwork and use of vivid colour that suggest this. It would be interesting to see a reasonably representative or complete portfolio of his work and see how it changed after this accident in 1914. Vincinquantesept (talk) 17:06, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

That is an interesting point about his accident and temporal lobe epilepsy. One of the problems is that he did not date his work. Has anyone read Patricia Allderidge's book Louis Wain and the Myth of the Disintegrating Cat? [2] It might provide some clues. There are a lot of illustrations in the Dale biography, but they are not all dated. Southdevonian (talk) 10:22, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

51.6.139.110 (talk) 10:34, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

Thank for the response. Ive just ordered Patricia Allderidge's book, so Ill take a look and respond in due course. Vincinquantesept (talk) 10:35, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

Unrepresentative of mental disorder

I think this article shows so little of his work and covers a very small portion of it. It does not represent his more "psychedelic" stage which is argued by some psychologists to be reflective of his deteriorating mental state, and I think the article has overall has little range in terms of his actual artworks. I just thought it was worth bringing that up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.141.22.157 (talk) 07:45, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

How many cats are used to show deteriorating mental state?

How many cats are used to show deteriorating mental state in psychological works? I have made the number of cats less clear as it seemed to imply five was the norm but the books I have seen in GS have 2, 3 or 8. Hope this is OK. Best wishes (Msrasnw (talk) 16:08, 4 September 2012 (UTC))

I've found several more pictures of psychedelic cats within his body of illustrations. What I would like to do is capture each separately and present them in a strictly random order when a person visits the Wikipedia article to remove as much bias as humanly possible. Any better suggestions? A simple static random order would still be superior from the perpsective of presenting unbiased truth. 75.93.148.86 (talk) 14:47, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Arithmetic

The article says:

Wain was transferred to the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark, and again in 1930 to Napsbury Hospital near St Albans in Hertfordshire, north of London. Napsbury was relatively pleasant, ... and he spent his final 15 years there in peace.

But Wain died in 1939, sso how could he have spent 15 years in Napsbury?? Sussmanbern (talk) 03:10, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

hit by a bus?

Was Louis Wain hit by a bus? I read an obituary that said he was injured and his mental problems came from that. Anyone heard of this? --Turn685 (talk) 20:07, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, i read that too. He was hit by a carriage. 149.140.145.251 (talk) 05:40, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for the information. This is a promising direction for my research. Expect an update to this article should I find definitive information. 75.93.148.86 (talk) 14:48, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Here is the scanned obituary I saw [3] and an old article from The Guardian in 1960 which also states this [4]. Not sure if this helps but it seems interesting! Turn➦ 03:39, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Youngest sister

Any further information on the youngest sister who was certified insane? It's quite fluid and nondescript, and seeemingly out of place, albeit interesting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.75.60.225 (talk) 18:19, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Lack of citations

This article is very old. With such a horrendous lack of citations, it would not have past muster if published today. I have flagged the issues as applicable. I hope interested editors fix the article! Rp2006 (talk) 18:05, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

Marie Louisa's date of birth

@Gallicrow: removed a reference to Marie as Wain's youngest sister. I agree that she probably wasn't his youngest sister. But the list of sisters still gives her date of birth as 1871, which would make her the youngest. I think I put that in and presumably it is what it said in the Dale biography. I cannot find a birth for Marie on freebmd at all. Her age at death in 1913 is given as 42, which suggests a 1870-71 date of birth. Felicie and Marie were born in the same year, which is in theory just about possible, but Felicie's birth was registered in the September quarter of 1871, which doesn't leave any room for Marie - unless they were twins and I don't think Dale said they were. I will add a footnote. The dates of birth of his sisters are of course not of any significance to the article. Southdevonian (talk) 10:16, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Marie's entry in the GRO index of births (and hence freebmd) hasn't been found yet. She definitely isn't the Louisa Maria Wain whose birth was registered Hampstead in the first quarter of 1866, as the GRO index of births shows the mother's maiden name as Sparrow. However the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses all list the household with Marie Louisa in the middle of the sisters with an age corresponding to a year of birth around 1867 and the place of birth as Marylebone. In the 1901 and 1911 censuses, where she is in the Kent County Lunatic Asylum (St Augustine's) and only her inititals (M W) are given, her listed age gives a year of birth of about 1871 and of course the age at death of 42 in 1913 also gives ~1871 as her year of birth.

You can see transcriptions of the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses on the Family Search website, which is free but you have to create an account to view records:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G814-V83

I can attach scans of the censuses from Ancestry if you think it's worth doing so! Gallicrow (talk) 22:59, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Gallicrow: I take your word for it! I have taken out the dates of birth of the sisters, which are not relevant to the article, and put Marie in the middle. That way it is still compatible with the source (Dale page 9). Southdevonian (talk) 09:00, 20 January 2024 (UTC)