Once a household name, the artist Louis Wain, who drew cats, had been largely forgotten – until now, thanks to new film The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain giving his story the Hollywood treatment.
He’s played in the film by Benedict Cumberbatch.
With whimsical illustrations, reports Sky, Louis Wain helped shift societal attitudes towards cats – transforming their reputation from practical mouse-catchers and elevating them to adored pet status.
Gallery owner and Louis Wain biographer Chris Beetles said it is hard now to imagine the impact the artist had in his lifetime.
“He was just everywhere in that prolific 40-year period from about 1880 to 1920, when he started slipping into mental illness,” he said.
The artist, who had a reputation for being eccentric, spent the last part of his life in asylums, and was thought to have had an undiagnosed mental illness.
