It looks to me like LW just developed his cats into pure pattern. The later cats are symetrical and organised and look a bit like a coloured zentangle inspired artwork before zentangle existed. Genius rather than madness.
That is completely true, any art expert will draw parallels to Cubism, instead physician eager to rise to prominence through LW's work will say he noticed mental deterioration and claim he made a collection (although chronological order is purely speculated). In 1932 LW (after leaving Bedlam) created Blue Cat - a classic Louis cat picture, same is true for "I am happy because everyone loves me" image, which is a classic image created out of gratitude to his fans for getting him out of Bedlam.
Who cares about whether he had schizophrenia? Or not? Don't any of us wish that our life's work could have produced anything memorable, at all?! Louis Wain achieved sustained greatness for which he will long be remembered and loved. A life well lived!
No, it's still interesting and memorable art. But it also can be a useful visual representation of the progress of schizophrenia. It's important to study. You honestly don't think it's important to study the artist himself? That's like saying we shouldn't study Picasso or Da Vinci because their art was memorable. No, it's important to study historical figures fully. Both the accomplishments and the negative sides to them.
It is QUITE QUITE relevant to try to understand the illness and the phenomena he manifested. Understand miss diagnosis (diagnosis change in relationship to the times and places and cultures people are set into...) or the changes in perception of mental illness is relevant to help the understanding of our currant system. This is mental illness and it's treatment's history and it can help shed light on currant aspects we still haven't figured out. (To me, a person with Schizophrenia tends to not have artistic inclinations or high cognitive drive/energy in general, I think true schizophrenia is more like early dementia...I think that this dissociation of the self that maintains it's drive and hability to produce is more like Schizoaffective, in the bipolar spectrum (like, apparently is a spectrum we all are, but dont deviate as a phenomena as far as people like Louis Wain). This helps understand a bit more of our brains, the intangible self, perception processes and dissociative processes...) What happened to Louis Wain is fascinating to people who study the brain/mind. I was tough in school he simply went crazy and has his artwork was presented as "proof" of his fantastic deterioration, now, with this perspective presented by the Maudsley hospital, it seems like this was a distorted story, edited and catered to validate past ideas about mental illness: propaganda or genuine culturally biased fact?... In any way, it is totally possible that the dissociation was a progression of his work as an artist, just like the beatles started with "I wanna hold your hand" and as they dug deeper inside them artistically they eventually came out with "A day in life", "Helter Skelter", "Tomorrow never knows" or "Number 9" - And no one said they were going crazy.... Of course, Louis Wain had other symptoms to back up the mental illness diagnosis, but his art progression is not necessary one of them, like shown by his very organized/cohesive and colorful later in life painting example the doctor presented...I never knew of an example like that: maybe it is omitted so not to weaken the pitch of schizophrenia being illustrated by his art...
There is not a shred of proof of schizophrenia, and the collection idea has no proof of chronological order, therefore completely refuting the idea of alleged mental deterioration. LW created a "Blue Cat" image - a classic cat image in 1932. after he left Bedlam (which was probably a relief for him since Bedlam was known for mistreatment of patients), how was that possible if his mind was shredded by illness as Maclay falsely states.
Absolutely, I am so happy that viewers of this video are not falling for Maclay's false collection of deteriorating mind - LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
A typical Wain inscription on the reverse is something like this: "The solitary one more real persian cat is the one that is now going to be the one that is the real living animal left alone until the call is given to it at night time this evening at the same time as the rabbit can be again put to the test. This can be done by giving the call directly the light is seen after the first sleep is over. [continued]
Audio seems to be rather wonky here. Very low dialogue out of the left channel and there's a cough sound that shows up halfway through the right channel, but remains silent throughout.
They were never a representation of deteriorated mind, they might likely be experiments with form and color, like Cubism, was Picasso mad because he drew using the geometric shapes? Collection was never dated chronologically, entire collection is a speculation and served Maclay to gain whatever prominence he gained by labelling Louis as deranged artist. In 1932. after leaving Bedlam, Louis created "Blue Cat" which is a classic cat image, showing no signs of vibrant colors or fractal-like shapes - how was that possible if his mind has deteriorated? Maclay did some very selfish work, something misleading and false, all to get some fame and recognition, in turn Louis got labelled as crazy artist, yet another injustice brought upon him by the scrupulous and greedy.
Right, and that is not the only inaccuracy - Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
What if the only reason the landscape piece looks so natural was because he was medicated, and when he painted the final cats he somehow stopped taking that medication? We have no proof either way.
@@nomattr he means corrupted as more of a interruption of the piece, the flowers were flooding over the house almost like a wave, his previous works before schizophrenia did not show this trait.
. . . "The colour is the direct soft tone in the red chalk. The whole is the (?) even (?) tints.--Living its own lonely life this old can (sic) can now come ot the newer existence. It is the perfect cat made the more perfect by the willingness given to it. The whole is the old time rabbit and this has now the greater life given to it to be. The deer too can now be the same in the same way."
After reading he had schizophrenia and his painting style changed, when first saw his fractal looking paintings, I felt that "oh he brokedown" but with time and the more I looked at his later time paintings, couldnt help but think that they are beautiful
Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
Absolutely right in this case, Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
Cubism and abstraction are not signs of schizophrenia or "mental degradation", these ideas are outrageous and offensive! Please let go of the outdated/wrong schizophrenia hypothesis, the man who put it forward, Maclay, a doctor in Bedlam, was another exploiter in Louis' life, he gained prominence through this unfounded idea and his quasi-collection "kaleidoscope cats" which is not even in chronological order. See opinions of today's doctors who contest the Maclay's quasi-idea that Louis' wonderful abstract Cubist-like imagery (allegedly inspired by patterns from his mother's textiles) is product of "deteriorated mind" - if it was product of destroyed mind it would be worthless gibberish, not beautiful intricate highly-structured images they are! Image named "Blue cat" is a classic image created in 1932., after he left Bedlam and after he created abstract images bad-mouthed by Maclay. "Blue cat" is a most classic non-abstract image, it is not true that Louis was unable to create classic images later in life, I am absolutely sure he created them until the end, and there is evidence of him doing so. If only Maclay and likes of him were able to create 1% of joy and goodness Louis Wain created, maybe they wouldn't venture into art-criticism and proclaim abstract art as "degradation", please don't give public space to the ideas of people like Maclay.
It looks to me like LW just developed his cats into pure pattern. The later cats are symetrical and organised and look a bit like a coloured zentangle inspired artwork before zentangle existed. Genius rather than madness.
That is completely true, any art expert will draw parallels to Cubism, instead physician eager to rise to prominence through LW's work will say he noticed mental deterioration and claim he made a collection (although chronological order is purely speculated). In 1932 LW (after leaving Bedlam) created Blue Cat - a classic Louis cat picture, same is true for "I am happy because everyone loves me" image, which is a classic image created out of gratitude to his fans for getting him out of Bedlam.
Who cares about whether he had schizophrenia? Or not? Don't any of us wish that our life's work could have produced anything memorable, at all?!
Louis Wain achieved sustained greatness for which he will long be remembered and loved. A life well lived!
No, it's still interesting and memorable art. But it also can be a useful visual representation of the progress of schizophrenia. It's important to study. You honestly don't think it's important to study the artist himself? That's like saying we shouldn't study Picasso or Da Vinci because their art was memorable. No, it's important to study historical figures fully. Both the accomplishments and the negative sides to them.
It is QUITE QUITE relevant to try to understand the illness and the phenomena he manifested. Understand miss diagnosis (diagnosis change in relationship to the times and places and cultures people are set into...) or the changes in perception of mental illness is relevant to help the understanding of our currant system. This is mental illness and it's treatment's history and it can help shed light on currant aspects we still haven't figured out.
(To me, a person with Schizophrenia tends to not have artistic inclinations or high cognitive drive/energy in general, I think true schizophrenia is more like early dementia...I think that this dissociation of the self that maintains it's drive and hability to produce is more like Schizoaffective, in the bipolar spectrum (like, apparently is a spectrum we all are, but dont deviate as a phenomena as far as people like Louis Wain). This helps understand a bit more of our brains, the intangible self, perception processes and dissociative processes...)
What happened to Louis Wain is fascinating to people who study the brain/mind. I was tough in school he simply went crazy and has his artwork was presented as "proof" of his fantastic deterioration, now, with this perspective presented by the Maudsley hospital, it seems like this was a distorted story, edited and catered to validate past ideas about mental illness: propaganda or genuine culturally biased fact?...
In any way, it is totally possible that the dissociation was a progression of his work as an artist, just like the beatles started with "I wanna hold your hand" and as they dug deeper inside them artistically they eventually came out with "A day in life", "Helter Skelter", "Tomorrow never knows" or "Number 9" - And no one said they were going crazy.... Of course, Louis Wain had other symptoms to back up the mental illness diagnosis, but his art progression is not necessary one of them, like shown by his very organized/cohesive and colorful later in life painting example the doctor presented...I never knew of an example like that: maybe it is omitted so not to weaken the pitch of schizophrenia being illustrated by his art...
@@anaalnsiqueira The thing is that his works weren't dated. He was experimenting with color
There is not a shred of proof of schizophrenia, and the collection idea has no proof of chronological order, therefore completely refuting the idea of alleged mental deterioration. LW created a "Blue Cat" image - a classic cat image in 1932. after he left Bedlam (which was probably a relief for him since Bedlam was known for mistreatment of patients), how was that possible if his mind was shredded by illness as Maclay falsely states.
The cat exiting the cottage at 4:00 is beautiful. I want it on my living room wall. It lifts my spirits.
at 4:00 what a marvelous unexpected late work. I believe the artist was crazy, crazy good.
Yes, I agree. I'm looking for a print online of the cat in the country cottage. Its perfect.
Absolutely, I am so happy that viewers of this video are not falling for Maclay's false collection of deteriorating mind - LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
@@ivan00001983 I was reading about Wain again just yesterday! Have a great week, Ivan
I love this blokes work!
A typical Wain inscription on the reverse is something like this:
"The solitary one more real persian cat is the one that is now going to be the one that is the real living animal left alone until the call is given to it at night time this evening at the same time as the rabbit can be again put to the test. This can be done by giving the call directly the light is seen after the first sleep is over. [continued]
Thank you so much for uploading this video to RUclips: it is very helpful to those who would like to understand Louis Wain and his work better!
Audio seems to be rather wonky here. Very low dialogue out of the left channel and there's a cough sound that shows up halfway through the right channel, but remains silent throughout.
A very insightful look at a wonderful troubled artist. And yes, in the end, they are just beautiful paintings.
They were never a representation of deteriorated mind, they might likely be experiments with form and color, like Cubism, was Picasso mad because he drew using the geometric shapes? Collection was never dated chronologically, entire collection is a speculation and served Maclay to gain whatever prominence he gained by labelling Louis as deranged artist. In 1932. after leaving Bedlam, Louis created "Blue Cat" which is a classic cat image, showing no signs of vibrant colors or fractal-like shapes - how was that possible if his mind has deteriorated? Maclay did some very selfish work, something misleading and false, all to get some fame and recognition, in turn Louis got labelled as crazy artist, yet another injustice brought upon him by the scrupulous and greedy.
Louis was born 1860, not 1890, as was misspoken at the beginning of the video
Right, and that is not the only inaccuracy - Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
born in 1890 and was at peak popularity in the 1890s? Justin Bieber eat your heart out!
Fine line between madness and how we percehive n ormalacy. Myself a touch of madness is needed to be an artist in any format
What if the only reason the landscape piece looks so natural was because he was medicated, and when he painted the final cats he somehow stopped taking that medication? We have no proof either way.
hi Jesse G. Anti-psychotics medication emerged in early 19502. There wasn't much in Wain's times. Cheers
In Wain’s style, the cottage would have been simply on its own, but instead there is a forest of flowers corrupting the image
@@LiftYagami I do not see anything corrupted in the mentioned image.
@@nomattr he means corrupted as more of a interruption of the piece, the flowers were flooding over the house almost like a wave, his previous works before schizophrenia did not show this trait.
. . . "The colour is the direct soft tone in the red chalk. The whole is the (?) even (?) tints.--Living its own lonely life this old can (sic) can now come ot the newer existence. It is the perfect cat made the more perfect by the willingness given to it. The whole is the old time rabbit and this has now the greater life given to it to be. The deer too can now be the same in the same way."
Of course, this was in the old building!
After reading he had schizophrenia and his painting style changed, when first saw his fractal looking paintings, I felt that "oh he brokedown" but with time and the more I looked at his later time paintings, couldnt help but think that they are beautiful
Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
He Said Born “1890” he was born 1860 I believe
Psychiatrists are crazy.
Absolutely right in this case, Louis's mind never deteriorated as described by Maclay. Maclay is no hero but a small man wanting to get prominence from LW's misfortune. LW draw a "Blue Cat" in 1932. - classic cat image - after leaving Bedlam, probably to his great relief, since Bedlam was known as a sad brutish place. He even created "I am happy because everyone loves me" classic cat image to thank his fans and friends for bailing him out of Bedlam. And now this same Bedlam has nerve to bad-mouth him once again by exposing "ideas" of Maclay, which are complete falsifications.
Cubism and abstraction are not signs of schizophrenia or "mental degradation", these ideas are outrageous and offensive! Please let go of the outdated/wrong schizophrenia hypothesis, the man who put it forward, Maclay, a doctor in Bedlam, was another exploiter in Louis' life, he gained prominence through this unfounded idea and his quasi-collection "kaleidoscope cats" which is not even in chronological order. See opinions of today's doctors who contest the Maclay's quasi-idea that Louis' wonderful abstract Cubist-like imagery (allegedly inspired by patterns from his mother's textiles) is product of "deteriorated mind" - if it was product of destroyed mind it would be worthless gibberish, not beautiful intricate highly-structured images they are! Image named "Blue cat" is a classic image created in 1932., after he left Bedlam and after he created abstract images bad-mouthed by Maclay. "Blue cat" is a most classic non-abstract image, it is not true that Louis was unable to create classic images later in life, I am absolutely sure he created them until the end, and there is evidence of him doing so. If only Maclay and likes of him were able to create 1% of joy and goodness Louis Wain created, maybe they wouldn't venture into art-criticism and proclaim abstract art as "degradation", please don't give public space to the ideas of people like Maclay.
Louis Wain made cats creepy
Tbh i do think they're KIND OF creepy but damn they also do look beautiful