Introduction Louis Wain (1860–1939) occupies a singular place in art history as the man who reimagined the cat . In an era when cats were not yet the beloved pop culture icons they are today, Wain’s whimsical and vibrant illustrations of anthropomorphized felines captured the public’s imagination. His drawings—cats at tea parties, cats playing instruments, cats with wide-eyed grins—popularized the very idea of cats behaving like humans, earning him fame in late Victorian and Edwardian England. An editor of Punch even dubbed Wain the “ Hogarth of Cat Life .” ( artsy.net ). H. G. Wells, the famed writer, went so far as to jest that “ British cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves .” ( whosoutthere.ca ). Such accolades highlight how influential Wain became in his time. "Three Cats Singing", Louis Wain, 1925/39 Image courtesy of Wellcome Collection . Public Domain. Today, the legacy of Louis Wain lives on not just in museums and histo...