Category: Art

Louis Wain would have been important if he had only been the greatest master ever of cute and anthropomorphic felinity, which, around the turn of the 20th Century, he was. His images of kitties were cranked out and reproduced in vast numbers, creating an inexhaustible reservoir of catty charm. Wain would have been important if he were only known for the increasingly bizarre and (before the term was coined) psychedelic cat images he produced toward the end of his life while institutionalized as a schizophrenic. And Wain would have been fascinating if only for the ceramic cats he designed in

It’s hard to call Ohr’s pottery anything other than magnificent, and this book has a ton of beautiful images. The strength of his work is such that it is not overpowered by his story, which is saying a lot. Ohr cultivated eccentricity. His biography is uniquely entertaining, and the story of his work and its reception — in his own time and its rediscovery long after his death — is endlessly fascinating. The writing occasionally comes off as a bit too jolly, but I understand the temptation presented by Ohr’s own ebullience. Overall the text is engaging and authoritative.