Dog Art Today

Category: 20th Century Dog Art

  • Helen Lundeberg’s The History of Transportation Returns to Inglewood

    Helenlundeberg

    On Saturday, Helen Lundeberg’s WPA 1940 mural The History of Transportation was given a place of honor at the new Grevilla Art Park in Inglewood, CA, its original home city. The 60-panel, 240-foot-long artwork depicting the “evolution of transportation — from Native Americans [and dogs] walking on foot to passengers boarding a DC-3” was badly damaged over the years by car accidents, cracks, and graffiti. In 2000, it was removed for restoration with help from a grant from the Getty Foundation. Finally, it’s back on view. Lovely!

    Read more in Suzanne Muchnic’s LA Times article.

  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Grrrrrrrr! Dog in Moscow

    Grrr

    I’m a big fan of Roy Lichtenstein. His I Know…Brad hangs in my living room.

    If you’re in Moscow this summer, you have a chance to see his Grrrrrrrr! dog at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. It’s included in the show Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation. Organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in partnership with the The Terra Foundation for American Art, the show is billed as the first survey of American Art in Moscow.

    I love that they included the dog, but perhaps it’s a bit aggressive, diplomatically speaking. Especially since the exhibition is presented under the patronage of Condoleezza Rice.

    Show runs until September 9.

  • Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake: Tragedy of Two Artists

    Sodiumfox

    I was not familiar with Theresa Duncan or Jeremy Blake. I read about them for the first time this morning in the The New York Times, where it’s reported that Duncan committed suicide last week and her longtime boyfriend, Blake, is now missing. He was last seen Tuesday night walking into the ocean at NYs Rockaway Beach where his clothes and wallet were later found.

    A photo of Blake’s DVD art, Sodium Fox (above), including a dog, and links to Duncan’s blog The Wit of the Staircase were included with the article. This, beyond the tragic headline, drew me in. It’s the first time I’ve noticed the inclusion of a blog in a death notice and it offers readers (strangers — like me) a glimpse into a life that ended so tragically.

    Thersadog

    I know you can never know what goes on in a person’s mind, but with blogging, you can know what goes on in a person’s day. Sadly, one of the first signs that something was wrong for many people was the fact that Theresa hadn’t posted on her site for a few days. She usually told people exactly what she was up to and let them know she would be back later to post more. Now, fellow bloggers who never knew her mourn her, and daily readers lament not linking to her sooner…perhaps managing to cheer her up…managing to change the course of events on her final day.

    Jeremy

    This, I know, is chilling…even ghoulish pehaps. But it is also a very real outcome of being part of the blogosphere. I have spent most of the morning reading Duncan’s brilliant blog and jumping around those of her fans and foes. It’s bizarre. I wonder how long her blog will stay up now? Will someone keep it in memoriam for her? Or will it disappear when her membership expires? I feel compelled to read it now, in case it vanishes overnight. Like a mandala…or like a life itself.

    Theresa Duncan was a video game creator, filmmaker, writer and perfume blogger.

    Here is her intoxicating and spot-on response to an laist interview question; If you were to make a perfume that embodied the essence of Los Angeles, what would it smell like?

    “My cologne is called Santa Ana after the powerful winds that bring desert heat and faraway smell into the city.
    It smells like: Celluloid and sand, coyote fur and car exhaust, contrail cloud and chlorine, bitter orange and stage blood and one bushel of ghostly, shivery night-blooming jasmine flowers like blown kisses from the phantoms of the ten thousand screen beauties who still haunt our hills every full moon because they think it’s a stage light.”

    Jeremy Blake is a highly acclaimed video and digital animation artist whose work has been shown at three Whitney Biennials and at a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is represented by Kinz, Tillou + Feigen Gallery and scheduled to have an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in DC in October

    May she rest in peace. And may he be found alive.

    (No more puppy mills, disturbing flying dogs, or tragic young artist stories next week. I promise. Oh, and I missed posting on Thursday because I had a nasty cold. In case you were wondering.)

    7.31.07 Update: Jeremy Blake’s body identified.

    8.1.07 Update: Kate Coe does some real investigative journalism and starts to put the pieces together in her L.A. Weekly story The Theresa Duncan Tragedy: A writer-game designer and her boyfriend commit suicide, and a facade falls away.

  • Frida Kahlo’s Centennial Celebration

     

    Fridakahlodog

     

    Itzcuintli Dog With Me, 1938

    This month marks the 100th year since Frida Kahlo’s birth on July 6. Mexico city is honoring their native daughter by finally giving her the acclaim she deserves with the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes’s show, Frida Kahlo 1907-2007 National Homage. The exhibition features 354 works, including 65 oil paintings, 45 drawings, 11 watercolors, and 5 etchings, 50 letters, and more than 100 personal photographs.

    Fridamonkeydog

     

    Self Portrait with Small Monkey, 1945

    The last time her works were seen in this city, now gripped in the throes of Fridamania, was 1940 when she was part of a group Surrealist show. Later, she would vehemently deny she was a Surrealist, stating, “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” — A reality that continues to enthrall fans (including dog art lovers) around the world and across centuries. Show runs until August 19.

  • Lin Onus: Michael and I Are Just Slipping Down to the Pub for a Moment

    Michaelblog_2

    Australian artist Lin Onus (1948-1996) was the son of a Scottish mother and Aboriginal father. Much of his work focused on the reconciliation of the two cultures he embodied. Clearly he was also a fan of humor. Here, in his painting entitled Michael and I Are Just Slipping Down to the Pub for a Moment, the Dingo, Onus’s symbol, rides the back of the Stingray, the symbol of fellow artist and collaborator Michael Eather.

    Greatwave

    I simply love this work! It shows that diverse artistic styles, like cultures themselves, can combine to make magic. For the two quintessentially Australian characters are riding one of the most famous waves in history; Hokusai’s 18th century Great Wave Off Kanagawa (above). (Also recently featured on PingMag in an excellent survey of Ukiyo-e art.)

    Mikeblog_2

    The other reason I love Onus’s painting is because I used the same wave (having never seen his work before – or knowing who Hokusai was) in a collage I made for another Michael who lost his beloved 12 year-old-dog last year. I called it Mike + Milo: Pacific Dog Day (above).

    Somehow, it makes me feel strangely connected to Onus and Hokusai – and not to be grandiose – but it feels good to be in their company, continuing the tradition of this truly great wave and its place in the world of art.

    (Several copies of the hard to find Urban Dingo, a monograph of Lin’s work, are available here.)

  • Christie’s Dog Sale Spotlight: Aurthur Wardle’s Bulldogs of the Twentieth Century

    Bulldogspost

    Two great things about the wonderful Bulldogs of the Twentieth Century: the subjects and the provenance. First, this is not just a group of Bulldogs. Each one is a champion with his or her name and title listed in Christie’s lot notes. It’s the equivalent of a painting of seven Cy Young Award winners – or maybe a champion rugby team.

    Second, this work is from the collection of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, and one of the most prominent figures in the pure-bred dog world of the early 20th century. Her accomplishments include raising 85 different dog breeds, being the first woman to judge “Best in Show” at the Westminster Dog Show, establishing the lavish Morris and Essex Dog Show, and founding the St. Giralda animal shelter which became a model of its kind.

    Geraldine

    Geraldine R. Dodge (above with Rin Tin Tin) was truly a patron saint of dogs and this Wardle painting, one from her collection of over 6,000 dog-themed works, would be an absolute treasure to own. It’s estimated sale price is between $100,000 – $150,000.

  • Dogs In Top Lots at Sotheby’s and Christie’s

    Both auction houses racked up sales of approximately $55 million last week with Sotheby’s edging out Christie’s by $300,000. At Sotheby’s, Norman Rockwell’s Home on Leave (Sailor in Hammock) (1945) was the second highest lot sold at $4,520,000, well beyond it’s $3 million estimate.

    Rockwell

    At Christie’s, Mary Cassatt’s Children Playing with a Dog (1907) sold for $6.2 million. (Estimate was for $3 – 5 million.) Read more exciting auction news at Artnet.

    Cassatt

  • The Clark Brothers Collect: Picasso’s “Dog and Cock”

    Cockanddog

    New Yorkers have a great opportunity to see one of Picasso’s 1921 cubist masterpieces, Dog and Cock, at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art this weekend — one of the early modern works included in an exhibition that celebrates the brilliant art collectors Sterling and Stephen Clark.

    While illuminating their individual tastes, the show must also make one wonder how two brothers, who obviously shared a single passion, could remain bitter rivals for most of their lives? Learn more about their feud and their competitive collecting nature that turned out to be the art world’s gain in Martha Schwendener’s NYT review today.