Dog Art Today

Photographer Lillian Bassman Dies at 94

 

Coiffure for Harper's Bazaar by Lillian Bassman, c. 1954

Art director and self-taught fashion and fine-art photographer Lillian Bassman died on Monday, February 13, 2012.   She was 94.

The New York Times obituary.

Slideshow of her works.

Her photographs have been published in Lillian Bassman (1997) and Lillian Bassman: Women (2009).  A new book, Lillian Bassman: Lingerie, will be published on April 1, 2012.

If you are an artist or photographer, don't destroy your work or negatives.  Bassman did, and later rediscovered interest in the work that survived.  You don't have to like your early work.  But keep it.

Annual Dog Art Show at Mascot Studio

 

Ready for the Snow by Ellen Weinstein

If you're in the East Village this evening, stop by Mascot Studio to see "Lucky Dog!"  It's the store's 13th annual dog art show curated by artist-owner Peter McCaffrey, with works by Anthony Freda, Anne Watkins, Chris Buzelli, Katherine Streeter, Hadley Hooper, Jane O'Hara, Jo Chambers, Richard Haines, Meer Musa, Kelynn Alder, Scott Neary, Dan Romer, Joohee Yoon, and June Moss.

My pick of the litter is Ready for the Snow by Ellen Weinstein.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Geraldine R. Dodge Collection at William Secord Gallery

 

 

Beb by George Earl

William Secord always has a something special during the week of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in NYC.   This year, over 150 animal-themed works (mostly dogs) from the Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Collection are on view at his gallery.  Sales from the exhibition benefit the organization founded by Mrs. Dodge in 1939, Saint Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey.

Mrs. Dodge is a legend in the purebred dog world. She founded the Morris and Essex Kennel Club in 1927, and bred and imported some of America’s most important English Cocker Spaniels, German Shepherds, Bloodhounds, Pointers, Setters and Schipperkes, among others.  She is also the first woman to judge Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden.  You can view the exhibition online.  Here are some of my favorites:

 

Donald by Reuben Ward Binks

Captain, Corporal, Charm, and Cling by Reuben Ward Binks

 

English Setter & Pointer in the Field by Gustav Muss-Arnolt

 

Laying Down the Law by Edwin Landseer

The Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Collection at William Secord Gallery runs until March 24, 2012.

NYC Dog-Art Tour

 

 

Howling Canine, 5th or 6th Century Mexican Ceramic at the Met

In honor of the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show that starts on Monday, Randy Kennedy of The New York Times takes readers on a dog-art tour of New York City.  He has some nice picks spanning sevearal centuries, continents, and mediums, but my favorite aspect of his article is that he's settled for me my own style guide quandary, something I've debated since I began this blog almost five years ago; dog-art has a hyphen.   Read Kennedy's article Sit. Stay. Good Art.

2.12.12 Update:  Oops.  Dog art is not automatically hyphenayted.  Thank you dog artist Leslie Moore for this clarification:

A quick grammatical note from a recovering English teacher: dog art should be hyphenated when the two words are both adjectives modifying a noun, i.e. when Randy Kennedy describes New York City as a "dog-art town." When the single adjective "dog" modifies the noun "art," no hyphen is necessary.

 

 

Boy with a Greyhound by Paolo Veronese, 1570s at The Met

 

Miss Mary Edwards by William Hogarth, 1742 at The Frick

 

A Woman with a Dog by Jean Honoré Fragonard, 1769 at The Met

 

Hunting Dogs with Dead Hare by Gustave Courbet, 1857 at The Met

 

Boodgie and Stanley by David Hockney, 1993 at The Morgan Library & Museum

Hat tip to my mom, and dog artists Barbara Grossman, and Natalie Timm for sending me links to this article.

Dogs Are Cute by Layla Cameron

 

 

Dogs Are Cute by Layla Cameron, 2012

My 6-year-old niece came over the other day and we sat on the couch and looked through the book Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today.   Then she urgently asked for paper and paints and made me this work of contemporary dog art.  Thank you, Layla.