The Cats' Club
Artist: Louis Wain · Undated
The Cats' Club: high-resolution image, free to copy
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Open high-resolution image on Wikimedia CommonsLouis Wain. Wikimedia Commons.
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The complete story
The story About 1 minutes to read
A group of cats gathers in a club-like interior, with a long table and a crowded back wall. The scene gives feline sociability a formal setting.
The cats sit and stand at different levels, so the group reads as a room rather than a row. Hats, collars and small props distinguish the figures, while the dark background pushes them forward.
Wain often imagined cats as a complete society with clubs, theatres, schools and family occasions. The setting here is informal but unmistakably institutional.
The humour depends on the ordinary details of club life. The cats are not caricatures of particular people; they are types observed through a feline lens.
The story and its sources
Historical claims are linked to the records below. Close looking and interpretation are identified in the passage notes.
- Passage 1Article text
- Passage 2Article textWikimedia Commons: Louis Wain - Katzenklub.jpg
- Passage 3Article textWikipedia: Louis Wain
- Passage 4Article textWikipedia: Louis Wain
Artist portrait Image credit
Unknown photographer. Image source · Public domain
About the artist
Louis Wain
5 August 1860 to 4 July 1939
Wain was a British illustrator and painter best known for his anthropomorphic cats. Born in Clerkenwell, London, he trained at the West London School of Art and taught at Camberwell before building a career in illustrated papers, children's books and postcards. His cats move through theatres, clubs, shops and family celebrations, and his later patterned images have become some of his most discussed work.
- Born
- 5 August 1860
- Died
- 4 July 1939
- Nationality
- British
- Birthplace
- Clerkenwell, London, England
- Died in
- St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Biography sources
The research & record
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Identity and catalogue
Link- Title
- The Cats' Club
- Artist / attribution
- Louis Wain
- Date
- Undated
- Medium and support
- Watercolour and ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Not recorded in the source
- Culture / place
- British
- Period
- Victorian and Edwardian illustration
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Subject and iconography
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Visual observation
The cats sit and stand at different levels, so the group reads as a room rather than a row. Hats, collars and small props distinguish the figures, while the dark background pushes them forward.(Wikimedia Commons: Louis Wain - Katzenklub.jpg, n.d.)
Historical context
LinkRead valuation records and their limitations
The source file is titled Katzenklub, German for cats' club. It does not record a date or medium.
Wain's cat world
LinkRead valuation records and their limitations
Wain often imagined cats as a complete society with clubs, theatres, schools and family occasions. The setting here is informal but unmistakably institutional.(Wikipedia: Louis Wain, n.d.)
Reading the image
LinkRead valuation records and their limitations
The humour depends on the ordinary details of club life. The cats are not caricatures of particular people; they are types observed through a feline lens.(Wikipedia: Louis Wain, n.d.)
Details to carry with you
- The source title means cats' club
- The source does not record a date
- Watercolour and ink on paper
- A group of cats in an interior
Bibliography
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- 01
Image-record
Wikimedia Commons: Louis Wain - Katzenklub.jpg (n.d.). Wikimedia Commons.
Citation text
- 02
Secondary
Wikipedia: Louis Wain (n.d.). Wikipedia.
Citation text
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