Sunday, October 04, 2009

Louis Wain Tribute II


I drew another tribute to Louis Wain, who specialized in drawing cats. He's best remembered for artsy ones he designed with wallpaper patterns. For decades it was speculated that he had schizophrenia, but I always thought the intense detail in his "wallpaper" drawings suggested some type of autistic disorder.
Sure enough, Many now believe he had Asperger's syndrome.
See? SEE?
"...Louis Wain did not have schizophrenia but Asperger’s syndrome. It is very easy to confuse somebody with odd beliefs with schizophrenia and to think that these odd beliefs are formal thought disorder...
...There is little doubt that he was a very eccentric if brilliant artist. He was also interested in mathematics, insects, bird skins, perceptual motion, science, and mechanical objects...
...He was bullied in school as many people with Asperger’s syndrome are. He spoke with an unusual tone of voice. He had preservation of sameness. He was interested in music and was very obsessional. He was very naïve. He did go through a paranoid psychotic period just like Isaac Newton but the fundamental diagnosis was Asperger’s syndrome. "

-from the above link (scroll down to second article to see it).

5 comments:

Sally said...

exquisitely beautiful!

stray said...

I'm wondering if someone I know has Asperger's, but it hardly feels polite to ask.....

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Sally.

I've known a few people with Asperger's, and a few more who I thought might have it. Of the people officially diagnosed, some seemed very strange (bright but mechanical, easily unglued) others seemed a bit unusual, but if you met them you wouldn't think what's wrong with this guy?
I have a hunch that it's a lot more common than was originally thought...

GhostBuild said...

Wow Namowal, that tribute came out beautiful! I love the extreme detail!

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Ghostbuild!
To be fair, most of the repetitive detail you see are from pattern brushes I've created. I'm cheating.
Also, about 90% of the cat was painted on one side and then copied and flopped to make the face. Then I added eyes and details to tone down the symmetry.
Wain would have been horrified.