Cat Fancy: Louis Wain

I recently discovered Louis Wain's trippy cat illustrations in an old Time/Life book about the mind. I would love to say that he drew these under the influence of numerous psychedelic drugs but he actually suffered from schizophrenia. Wain was major cat lover and a prolific illustrator before he was committed to a mental hospital in the 1920's. He started drawing the same cat over and over again; his drawings have since been used in numerous medical textbooks to illustrate the effects of schizophrenia on the brain. Sadly (and oddly) enough, cats may have been responsible for his condition. Some speculate that his disease was precipitated by toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be contracted from cats. Bad kitty!