Kerneels Breytenbach is a former publisher and journalist from Cape Town. He also authored the short story collection Morsdood van die Honger, the novels Glimlag, Piekniek by Hangklip, Ester, and Hond se Gedagte, and the cookbook Die Lekkerste Lekker. He often writes for magazines about food and restaurants, and as a journalist has also become known as an expert on pop music.
KEEPING UP WITH KERNEELS
An eccentric, autistic cat lover
KERNEELS BREYTENBACH was delighted by a biography of a weird illustrator of cats.
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IF YOU wonder why you love cats so much, and you are completely honest with yourself, the answer is simple. Because people are so soul-destroying. Cats don't have secrets. They are your superior. Some people just realise this faster than others.
Louis Wain was one of them. While Jameson had his eyes on the Witwatersrand, while Buller jumped from Majuba, while the peace treaty of Vereeniging was signed, while Jannie Smuts plunged South Africa into the Great War, and when De la Rey was shot, Wain's cats played golf in Europe, the USA and even in the Far East. Paraded along the boardwalk. Delivered legal judgments. Chic. Regained their powers at the spa, drank champagne. As humanity discovered penicillin and mastered the art of flying, Wain's feline art became a symbol of elegant life.
He was an English artist who could be described as a weirdo. He was a collector of cats — alive, dead, stuffed, porcelain, cement, wood — and then he depicted them in an astonishing range of artworks, drawings and watercolour works...
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Next articleKerneels Breytenbach
AuthorKerneels Breytenbach is a former publisher and journalist from Cape Town. He also authored the short story collection Morsdood van die Honger, the novels Glimlag, Piekniek by Hangklip, Ester, and Hond se Gedagte, and the cookbook Die Lekkerste Lekker. He often writes for magazines about food and restaurants, and as a journalist has also become known as an expert on pop music.