West End Exhibitions: Louis Wain and The Summer Cat Show

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The Review - EXHIBITION
Published: 22 August 2008

Cat’s Card School

A world of cats to get your paws into

LOUIS WAIN AND THE SUMMER CAT SHOW
Chris Beetles Gallery

IF you’ve got a phobia of felines and are mortified by moggies, steer well clear of this one.
In the words of HG Wells, the Edwardian cat artist Louis Wain “invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world”.
As you walk around the Chris Beetles gallery, paws for thought (sorry I couldn’t resist) and imagine a world where cats reign supreme. Milk lakes, no Pied Pipers and a lot of lounging would probably be the new world order. It sounds purrfect... George Bush ousted by Garfield; in a seamless transition the Miliband brothers start singing “We are Siamese” and Barack Obama morphs into a courageous Abyssinian warrior.
It’s not just Wain’s attention to detail – not a stray whisker or tortoiseshell patch out of place – but the way he humanises them, bringing them to life to the point you can imagine wagging tails in the local.
Louis Wain’s cats are in the company of paintings by six other artists, including Susan Herbert who offers an off-beat take on the cat kingdom by substituting felines for humans in a string of famous film scenes, plays and paintings.

* Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show 2008, Chris Beetles Gallery, 8 & 9 Ryder Street, SW1, until September 6. 020 7839 7551

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