Dog Art Today

Category: Dog Art Photography

  • Dogs of the Great Depression

     

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    Herbert Hoover and King Tut by Theodore Horydczak, 1928.

     

     

    80 years ago today the Stock Market crashed on what came to be known as Black Tuesday, the start of the Great Depression.  As we struggle to find our footing in what is now considered the Great Recession, take a moment to look back and listen to people on the front line:

    * PBS just ran an excellent biography on Herbert Hoover.  I never knew historians still widely consider him one of the most — perhaps THE most — competent man ever elected President of the United States.  In fact, his career was one of unbridled success and acclaim, until that fateful Tuesday.

    * The Roosevelt Institute's New Deal 2.0 is running an insightful series asking thinkers of today what lessons we should have learned from the Great Depression and where we are headed.

    * Errol Morris recently completed a fascinating seven-part series on the authenticity Farm Security Administration photographs.  Highly recommend.

    *Here is a bleak assessment of dogs in the Great Depression based on two characters in Of Mice and Men euthanizing their pets — considered the most human thing to do. 

    Needless to say, photos of dogs in the Great Depression are not exactly plentiful.

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    Herbert Hoover's dogs, King Tut, Whoopie &  Englehurst Gillette  .  March 28, 1929.  Via VerySerious.org

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    Sharecropper and sharecropper's dog, North Carolina, 1938 by John Vachon. Via the Library of Congress.

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    Rural arts exhibition held under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the patio of the U.S. Department of Agriculture building.  Dog show by Mr. Omar Marcoux of League of New Hampshire Arts and Crafts, Concord, who makes more than sixty kinds of dogs,  1937.  Via the Library of Congress.

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    Gold miner with his dog, Mogollon, New Mexico by Russell Lee, 1940. Via the Library of Congress.

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         Children playing near dead dog, South Side of Chicago by Russell Lee, 1941.  Via the Library of Congress.    

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    Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Miller and dog, Spencer, Iowa by Russell Lee, 1936.  Via the Library of Congress.

  • Elliott Erwitt’s Needle Felted Dog by Domenica More Gordon

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    When dog artist and DAT reader Nancy Schutt sent me this link to Domenica More Gordon's needle felted dogs now on view at The Dog Show at The Workshop in Edinburgh, I knew (although no mention is made of it) that one of the pups looked very familiar…

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    "Dog Legs" by Elliott Erwitt, NYC, 1974

    How very meta, as Rachel Maddow would say.

    Top image is available as a greeting card here. See more of Domenica More Gordon's work here.  For more great dog art, visit Nancy Schutt's Good Dog Art too.

  • Peggy Guggenheim: Dog, Art Lover

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    Peggy Guggenheim with her dogs on the roof of her Venetian palazzo by David Seymour, 1950

    Sixty-seven years ago this week Peggy Guggenheim opened her gallery Art of this Century and brought together the avant-garde stars of war-torn Europe (Brancusi, Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall,
    Mondrian, Duchamp, Picabia, Dali, Braque, Magritte, Dali) with the emerging artists of America (Pollock, Motherwell, de Kooning, Rothko).  With the her gallery's launch she changed the course of Western art forever.  Peggy loved fame, art, sex, penny pinching, and dogs.  Today's post is dedicated to Peggy and her beloved Lhasa Apsos.

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    Benita and Peggy Guggenheim with Twinkle (not a Lhasa Apso) at the Third Annual Dog Show of the Westchester Kennel Club at Gedney Farms, 1919.

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    The Grand Canal entrance to her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, during the exhibition of contemporary sculpture with which opened her new home to the public for the first time, September 1949.  Via Frey Lhasa Apso Kennel.

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    Anton Gill biographies.  Read good review of one here.

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    At her Venice palazzo, 1961

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    The plaque at her Venice palazzo where her fourteen dogs are buried.  Peggy is buried beside them.


  • Irving Penn Dies

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    Irving Penn, one of the greatest photographers of all time died last week at age 92.  Rest in peace.

    I found this photo here.  I think the website  is in Greek.  If anyone can translate the information about this photo, I would love to know more about it.

  • Sharon Montrose + Spencer Starr’s New Portie Book

    I love when I get to cross-post on my blogs.  I featured this on my Obama Dog Blog…

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    On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama accepted the Presidency of the United States and promised his girls a puppy for their new home.  What would forever be known as the "Puppy Moment" kicked off a fairy-tale-like quest for the perfect Obama pet.  Dog lovers, historians, and trend-watchers tracked every hint and nod to a breed to see which one the the First Family would select.  Sally Quinn called it, "The best kept secret in Washington."  When word leaked out that it would be a Portuguese Water Dog, Porties across the country applied for the position.  Photographer Sharon Montrose and her husband Spencer Starr have uncovered the previously unpublished headshots and resumes of the pups who hoped they would find a home at the White House in their new book Almost First Dog: The Secret (Rejected) Portuguese Water Dog Applications.

    As a blogger who followed the First Dog search from the start, I have spent hours seaching for Portie images, so I can say with authority this is the most beautiful collection of Portuguese Water Dog photos out there.  Porties are challenging dogs to capture on film.  Frequently their black curly hair hides their eyes or ruins exposures.  Studio shots look stilted for such a rambunctious breed and the action shots sometimes sacrifice the magic of their adorable faces.  Sharon somehow wrangled the greatness of the breed in these works of art while Spencer revels in the fun and absurdity the world had waiting for the arrival of Bo.  I highly recommend this book for any Portie owner or photography buff; obviously, it's the perfect gift for someone who is both.

    Here are some highlights:

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    Click here
    to order your copy.

    Also, visit Sharon's etsy shop and Spencer's etsy shop to see the stunning depth of talent in one couple.  Stop by Sharon's website for large, limited edition prints (phenomenal, really).  Sharon's blog is a treat too.

  • Buenos Aires Dachshund

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    Back Alley Dachshund

    Sometimes I don't allow myself to visit the Nag on the Lake blog because I can lose myself there in hours of cool.  Luckily, The Nag is kind enough to send me photos directly to my inbox.  Like this Dachshund photo she recently took on her trip to Buenos Aires.  Reportedly, this little guy also came up and gave her a big kiss.  So cool.

  • 100 Years of Dogs in Vogue

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    The Duchess of Windsor wearing Mainbocher and accompanied by a greyhound
    by Cecil Beaton American Vogue, June 1937

    In 1930, Vogue proclaimed, “The next best thing to having the world at your feet is to have a dog at your heels.”  Now, author Judith Watt sifts through the Vogue archives of the last century and discovers how dogs reflect and complement women’s changing lives as their place in the world evolves.  Her book Dogs in Vogue: A Century of Canine Chic comes out next week.  The photos are fantastic but the story they tell is even better: The reasons may change, but for women, dogs have always been in vogue. 

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    Lady Diana Cooper at the British Embassy in Paris by Cecil Beaton, 1946

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    The investment guide to suits by Hans Hammarskjold, September 1954

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    Jean Shrimpton and Bertie by Eugene Vernier, February 1963

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    Princess Radziwill with Thomas, her pug, by Henry Clarke, August 1960

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    Vogue’s eye view: sun body special in the Bahamas by Alex Chatelain, May 1979

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    A right royal to-do by Mario Testino, December 2001

    Read Judith Watt’s article about her book in The Independent here.  It will be available next week here.

  • The Invisible Dog Walk

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    Last Sunday Improv Everywhere teamed up with with The Invisible Dog art space (housed in the former invisible dog leash factory) to coordinate 2,000 invisible dog walkers blanketing Brooklyn for fun and mayhem.  Here are some great photos from Agent Chad Nicholson.  See more on flickr.

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    P.S. The Invisible Dog art space is having a fundraising dinner on October 1, 2009, and their No Longer Empty exhibition opens on October 3, 2009.  Click here for more information.  I dig their groovy poster:

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  • G-20 Black Dog

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    Photo by Erika June Christina Laing

    My sister Regan lives in Pittsburgh where the G-20 just wrapped up on Friday.  She sent me this photo by Erika June Christina Laing from her flickr site of one of the security dogs.  What a shot.  She also reported that several of the protests turned into sports rallies, with chants breaking out of “Go Pens!” and “Here we go Steelers, here we go!”  That’s Pittsburgh for your.  It’s all about the sports. 

  • Georgia O’Keeffe’s Dog

     

     

     

    Did you watch "Georgia O'Keeffe" on Lifetime this weekend?  They are replaying it on Tuesday, September 22 at 9, if you want to catch it.  I thought it was good, not great.  But given I knew almost nothing about O'Keeffe's life, it was interesting to me as a primer.  The LA Times liked it.  The Boston Globe did not, especially since they left out some of the more salacious material. 

    Of course, I am indignant that there were no dogs, since she had many throughout her life.   And anyone who reads this blog knows that dogs were integral in of the lives of some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century.  In fact, I found this 1973 Albuquerque Tribune article by Ralph Looney who notes that O'Keeffe, who was 85 at the time of the interview, " is raising her sixth dog, a red Chow.  'Jingo's a year and five months old now,' she said.  'It seems to be my mission in life to wait on a dog.'  (She is also fascinated by the Watergate hearings at the time and has some choice words for welfare recipients.) 

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    Georgia O'Keeffe and her Chow by John Loengard

     

     

    The movie made O'Keeffe look stoic, isolated, and lonely in her later years, when they were actually brimming with dog love.  I would have liked to have seen that.  If you know a good biography on her, please let me know. 

    P.S. One of my favorite scenes was her cooking lunch and pouring herself tea as if in a Japanese ceremony.  I found this wonderful photo of her at Vegetarian Perspective, which is a great blog, BTW.

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    Georgia O'Keeffe cooking

    If you know who took this photo, leave word in the comments section.