Arty Farty Friday ~ CAT ART ~ Louis Wain & Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

Balancing last week's Arty Farty dog photographs, a look at a couple of artists known for their illustrations of cats: Louis Wain, and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (hereafter referred to simply as Steinlen to save my typing fingers).



Louis Wain was born on 5 August 1860 in London, England. His story is a sad one. Born with a cleft lip, one of 6 children, the only male. His youngest sister was certified insane, none of his other sisters married. Louis studied art, taught for a while then became a artist/illustrator specialising in animal subjects and rural scenes. He married his youngest sister's governess, Emily Richardson, causing something of a scandal. His wife died three years later of breast cancer. Louis started drawing their cat Peter to amuse his sick wife.

"Emily encouraged him to send these drawings to newspapers and magazines, and soon the Louis Wain cat was a household name, not only in Britain but also in America, where his comics and drawings of cats appeared in several newspapers. Louis Wain was elected as President of the National Cat Club and wrote the book 'In Animal Land with Louis Wain' in 1904.

After the First World War, the public's interest in cats diminished, and Wain reached a personal crisis, falling into poverty and being affected by schizophrenia around age 57. In 1924, he was certified insane and admitted to the pauper's wing of a mental hospital.

Years later, he was recognized and a fund was set up for him (by prominents such as H.G. Wells), enabling Louis Wain to spend his last years, until his death in 1939, in comfortable asylums where he continued to draw and paint cats." Wikipedia

Chart set for 12 noon in the absence of a birth time. Moon would have been somewhere between 18 degrees Pisces and 0 degrees Aries.

Louis Wain's descent into psychotic illness could have stemmed from some genetic weakness, bearing in mind one of his sisters spent her life in an asylum. Other speculations are covered at Wikipedia (link above).

One chart indication of the problem could come from Moon (inner self) conjunct Neptune (Neptune = delusion, as well as creativity).

He returned from New York broke, and his mother had died of Spanish influenza while he was abroad. His mental instability also began around this time, and increased gradually over the years. He had always been considered quite charming but odd, and often had difficulty in distinguishing between fact and fantasy.

He was, when in full health, clearly a cheery, often child-like Leo-type according to his four planets in that sign, and his early paintings. Venus, planet of art in gentle, sensitive Cancer is opposed by Mars from serious and much colder Capricorn, reflecting some inner challenges.

In the second decade of the 20th century when his mental disorder arose Uranus was transiting Aquarius, and at times would have been opposite one or other of his Leo cluster of planets....another astrological possibility relating to his mental descent.








The paintings done after his mental breakdown show marked differences. The cats' eyes become hostile, the cats' bodies shown as fragmented.










Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, the other artist best remembered for his cat illustrations. His were more formal, often stylised depictions.

Steinlen was born on 10 November 1859 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He started his career as designer trainee at a textile mill in eastern France. He and his new wife moved to the arty quarter of Paris where he met the owner of Le Chat Noir, a nightclub/cabaret, who commissioned Steinlen to produce some posters - they are now world famous. Cats were not his only subject, just the appropriate one for this post.







A couple of brief points: There's a nice Grand Trine in Water signs linking Venus (the arts)/Neptune (creativity)/ Jupiter (publication) - good for poster production!
Moon would have been in Taurus (ruled by Venus) whatever Steinlen's birth time, perhaps opposing his Scorpio Sun, or Venus - balancing any over-passionate traits with practicality and common sense.