Dog Art Today

Tag: whippets

  • The Grange Prize: Vote for Jo Longhurst

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    The Refusal (Part I)

    UK photographer Jo Longhurst is one of only four photographers shortlisted for The Grange Prize, Canada’s only art competition voted on solely by the public.  The winner receives $50,000.

    Jo’s nominated work includes The Refusal, her series on Whippet show dogs being bred to perfection, and Other Spaces, which explores the physical and emotional experiences of elite gymnasts.   There are interesting parallels between both portfolios which explore ideas of perfection, competition, and rules of societies.   And I think her inspired installations and unique framing add to the intensity of her vision.

    It seems that when Jo began studying at the Royal College of Art in London in 2001, she was warned no one would take her seriously if she worked with cute dogs.

    Wouldn’t it be neat if we could all help Jo Longhust win $50,000?

    Click here to vote. (Note: you do have to enter your email and confirm your vote in your inbox.   But it’s not too much of a hassle.)

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    Suspension (1)
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    Vincent
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    A-Z (detail)

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    Monique

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    Space-Force Construction No.3 (India)

    Watch Jo discussing her work and see her Whippet muses, Vincent and Terence:

    View this video at The Grange Prize website

    Cheers.

  • Hilda Spain-Owen Offers Free Shipping

     

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    It’s not too late to order prints or note cards from Hilda Spain-Owen’s online store.  She also will wrap gifts and include a gift card so you can send items directly to the Whippet fans in your life.  Visit WhippetArt for more information.  There are other breeds too.

    I picked this sunny print to feature because we are about to get slammed by 10 days of rain here in the foothills.   I may have to refer back to it so avoid a bout of SAD, seasonal affective disorder.  Feel free to bookmark it and do the same if grey days make you grumpy.   

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  • Hilda Spain-Owen’s Whippet Portraits

     

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    Anything for You

     

    Writing about artist Julian Chung and his circus inspired animals reminded me of a painter I’ve been meaning to feature named Hilda Spain-Owen.  Her work is so popular even non-dog owners collect her fabulous Whippets. 

    She also supports sighthound rescue groups in Florida and North Carolina and has raised thousands of dollars from her dog art donations.  Very cool!

     

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    Break Point

     

     

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    Cool Whip

     

     

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    Call of the Circus

     

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    Madame X

     

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    Designing Woman

    Visit Hilda Spain-Owen’s website for giclées, note cards, and information about commissioning a portrait of your pet.

  • Jelly Jelly Jelly All Jelly by Jack Butler Yeats

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    This charming line drawing of a day at the Whippet races, Jelly Jelly Jelly All Jelly (c. 1900),  by preeminent Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats sold today at Christies London auction house for £17,300 ($33,994).  Honestly, I never knew about Jack, the brother of Nobel Prize winning poet William.  But it turns he was the first Irish painter to sell for over £1 million.  And, he is often credited with articulating "a modern Ireland of the 20th century, partly by depicting specifically Irish subjects, but also by doing so in the light of universal themes such as the loneliness of the individual, and the universality of the plight of man."

    His father, Irish portraitist John Butler Yeats, also recognized his son’s talents, stating "’Some day I will be remembered as the father of a great poet, and the poet is Jack."  Ouch…I wonder how that made William feel?

    Here are some close ups of the lovely drawing of Irish dog enthusiasts.   

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    The inscription reads, "Them dogs/is took more care of/than if they was going/ter come in for a million o money"

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    Source: Wikipedia.

    See all the Irish Art for sale at Christies here.  It’s very interesting to compare the work to what artists on the continent were doing at the same time.  Obviously, the Irish were preoccupied with their battle for their Republic in the early 20th century, but you can see the steps they’re taking towards Modernism, albeit baby steps of a young country fighting for survival, not yet ready to focus on art.

  • Lucian Freud’s Dog Art

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    Eli and David, 2005

    Colin Gleadell of London’s Telegraph reports that the debut of ShContemporary, Shanghai’s first art fair, surpassed all expectations. He also notes that a Lucian Freud naked portrait of a man with a dog was priced at $16 million. This sent me on a quest to find the painting. Alas, I was unsuccessful. But I had an excellent time discovering Freud, a painter I have always loved, as a dog artist.

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    Double Portrait, 1985-1986
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    Girl With White Dog, 1951-1952
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    Eli 2002
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    Bella in Her Pluto T-shirt, 1995

    Pluto and Eli were Freud’s beloved Whippets.

    I love these dogs for the same reason I love Freud’s nudes. Not for their realism (it’s not what he does) but, to borrow from Stephen Colbert, for their “truthiness.” You can almost smell the dogs, feel their weight and the heat of their breath. I’ve seen many picture-perfect dog paintings, but that’s what they are, pictures of dogs. These are dogs with their aches, and their age, and their unique doggy odor. And I think they’re spectacular.

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    Bella, Freud’s daughter, works her dog love into her fashion line, featuring Pluto t-shirts designed from one of her father’s sketches. Order yours on her very dog-centric website.

    Interestingly, Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud’s grandfather, was not only a dog lover but was also known to include his dog as an assistant in his psychoanalysis.

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    “Freud felt that dogs had a special sense that allows them to judge a person’s character accurately. For this reason his favorite Chow-Chow, Jo-Fi, attended all of his therapy sessions; Freud admitted that he often depended upon Jo-Fi for an assessment of the patient’s mental state… [The dog] would alert him to any stress or tension in a patient…He lay relatively close to calm patients, but would stay across the room if the patient was tense. Jo-Fi also helped the great psychoanalyst determine when a therapy session was finished by unfailingly getting up and moving toward the office door when the hour was up.” (source: What Do Dogs Know? by Stanley Coren and Janet Walker.)

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    Limited edition photo of Sigmund Freud on a balcony with his two dogs is available from LMT Gallery on ebay. Starting bid is $7.50.