In reality Wain’s Kaleidoscope Cats show no ‘progression’, even in the artificial arrangement which was devised for them (and in which they are shown here): nor are they in any way ‘disintegrated’. The pictures simply represent cats in different ways – or not at all. The first two are fairly naturalistic drawings of cats, with patterns in the background. The slightly puzzled looking cat in the second picture is one which Wain drew many times in his life, sometimes with the caption I Wonder. The third belongs to a distinctive type with spiky fur, which he invented quite early in his working life, though the background is somewhat unusual. It may be purely decorative, but could also suggest that the cat is giving off an electric charge. The fourth picture holds the clue to all the rest. It is a decorative cat’s head design based on motifs taken from the well known ‘Paisley pattern’, which was itself imitated from the imported Kashmiri shawls which were highly prized in the 19th century.