In Honor of Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was born May 22, 1844.  Today google saw fit to honor the 165 th year of her birth.  She died at age 82, in June of 1926.  She is well known as an American painter, especially favoring mothers with small children.  Google’s logo for today is appropriate:

Google's logo for May 22, 2009

There is something peaceful and nice about the art of Mary Cassatt, that belies the rambunctiousness that this old dog knows goes with little kids, and pups as well.  I’m not sure if she favored dogs, but I have found three of her painting which have dogs in them.  For example, here is a painting from the year 1900, called “Woman in a Raspberry Costume Holding a Dog”:

Woman in a Raspberry Costume Holding a Dog -- Mary Cassatt -- 1900

You can click on the image to see it a little better, hopefully.

Here is another painting, this one of Elsie Cassatt, perhaps a niece or other relative, which dates to 1880.

Elsie Cassatt holding a Big Dog -- Mary Cassatt -- 1880

You should be able to see it better if you click on the image.

Mary Cassatt studied and worked in France, Spain, and the United States and was for a time aligned with the school of Impressionists working expecially with Edgar Degas.  She excelled with pastels.  Today, she is a prime example from the “American Impressionists”.

Here is the only other Mary Cassatt work that I could find that featured a dog.  It is called “Sara with Her Dog” and dates to 1901.

Sara with her Dog -- Mary Cassatt -- 1901

Click on the image for a better view (but 500K).  For those interested a pretty good article about Mary Cassatt is here.  Also, many 362 artworks of Mary Cassatt can be viewed at this site.

That’s it for today.  Check out Mary Cassatt!

Rita the dog

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

The time has come to praise Andrew Wyeth, for he died today at the age of 91.  His paintings of rural Pennsylvania and Maine,  highly detailed, realistic, stark, even melancholy are well known.

Andrew Wyeth in 1964 (from news release)

Andrew Wyeth (recent photo, ©2008 Jim Graham)

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So, in his honor I will share some images of the work of Andrew Wyeth, a few with dogs. First, a detail from the very famous Christina’s World, 1948.

Christina's World (detail) - Andrew Wyeth - 1948

For the full picture (but not high resolution), and information about it and the woman in it see this link to The Museum of Modern Art.

Next comes another well known image, dating to 1979 and called ‘Sauna’.

Andrew Wyeth - Sauna - 1979

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Next comes a painting I like because it reminds me of some of the wonderful walks my mom and dad take me and the interlopers on, near Xico, here in Mexico where we live.

Andrew Wyeth - The Intruder - 1971

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Next comes a copyrighted image, so it is to view as a bit of art education, but not to be downloaded.  It dates to 1981 and is called “Lovers”

Andrew Wyeth - Lovers - 1981 (copyrighted)

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Next is one I like a lot.  That’s really a lucky dog.  Sometimes I’m lucky like that.  Those are good days.

Andrew Wyeth - Master Bedroom - 1965 (watercolor)

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Here is an older picture called “Wind from the Sea” that I like a lot:

Andrew Wyeth - Wind from the Sea - 1948

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The next painting is called “Raccoon” but I don’t see any raccoons.  All I see is 2 ½ dogs that probably hunt raccoons.  Maybe the dog that’s only half a dog whose really pulling his chain hard had a raccoon in his mouth, but the canvass just wasn’t big enough to include it.  Seems strange to me but I’m just a dog so maybe you humans who read this can explain it.  Anyway its a pretty nice picture of the dogs that made it all the way in.

Andrew Wyeth - Raccoon - 1958

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Last, here is a picture with a wild dog in it.

Andrew Wyeth - Wild Dog (study for groundhog day) - 1959

I bet that was a tough dog to make it through the winter with no chance for a warm bed like that other dog.  The world is not really fair, and lots of it is just luck.

Anyway, I hope you liked this selection from the works of Andrew Wyeth, may he rest in peace.

Yours,

Rita the dog

More Cold Dogs

Those European artists who managed to get out in the cold snow and ice back in the 16-th, 17-th, 18-th and 19-th centuries and capture the scenery, the life of the people, and the austere conditions have my greatest admiration.  Especially because they managed to show dogs quite often.  Maybe even some of my ancestors! Or maybe not.  In any case, today I bring you seven wonderful images, showing Holland, Belgium, and England in the Winter, long ago.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to click on the images  so you can see the details, especially the dogs.

First, “View on the Heergracht at the Amstel”, by Dutch painter, Springer Cornelis (1817-1891)

View on the Heergracht at the Amstel -- Springer Cornelis (1817-1891)

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Next,  “On the way to market” by British painter, Thomas Smythe (1825-1906).

On the way to market--Thomas Smythe (1825-1906)

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Now comes a frozen canal near castle, by Dutch painter, Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870).

Frozen canal near castle--Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870)

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And another winter scene by Belgian painter, Albert Moerman (1808 – 1856).

Winter Landscape--Albert Moerman (1808 - 1856)

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Here is another scene showing 19th century winter in Holland, by Dutch painter, Bart van Hove (1856-1914).

Pompenburg met Hofpoort in Winter--Bart van Hove (1856-1914)

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Next, a 17th century winter scene by Flemish Baroque era painter, Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten (ca.1627-1666).  Those dogs look cold.

Post House and the New Bridge--Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten (ca. 1627-1666)

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Last for today, “Country Folk in a Frozen Winter Landscape”  by Dutch painter, Wouterus Verschuur ( 1812-1874).

Country Folk in a Frozen Winter Landscape--Wouterus Verschuur (1812-1874)

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Well, I hope you liked them, and clicked on at least a few so to see how cold dogs survived in the tough old days.  To me it looks like it was colder back then.

Your best friend,

Rita the dog.

Cold Dogs

There weren’t that many firecrackers and bombs exploding in the air this year.  I crawled under the table as close to my Dad’s feet as possible.  He kept thinking I would knock him off-line because I had to step over the surge protector with the switch on top, but I was careful.  Old dogs are wiser, no New Year’s resolutions for me.  Sure way to feel guilty and bad.  Its cold this time of year, but walks and lying in the sun, when there is sun, helps some.

So I thought you might like to see some art which features cold dogs.  Yeah, I know, this means I’ll have to do hot dogs sometime, to keep things balanced.  Obligations weigh heavy.

Let’s start with a famous one, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, called “The Hunters in the Snow (Winter)” which dates back to 1565.

Click on image to see it better (and bigger).  I’ll bet those dogs had cold feet.

Next, an ice skating  scene in Holland, dating to the 19th century, by the Dutch landscape artist Andreas Schelfhout, who specialized in winter landscapes.

Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870) -- Ice Merriment Near a Mill

Click on the image to see those cold merry folks a little larger, and of course, the dog.

Last, a very sad dog standing over the open grave of his one true love–how will he survive now that his mistress has past away?  This is by Swedish artist Carl Stefan Bennet (1800-1878).

Carl Stefan Bennet (1800-1878) ~ Fidele

Please click image to see it better.  I have many more cold dogs in winter images.  Speak up if you would like to see more.

Vicious Attack

Yesterday was a bad day.  Maybe it was day before.  The days tend to run together when you’re an older dog.  My younger sister Cosi, who is both strong and pretty, sweet and vicious, attacked me without provocation.  I was like the little white dog in this 1924 illustration by Gustaf Tenggren, in “The Good Dog Book”

Gustaf Tenggren--from The Good Dog Book--1924

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I didn’t do anything, she just attacked.  She is so deceptively sweet.  She looks just like this:

Dream-runner-Stella Looks just like Cosi

(This wonderful picture taken from a post called “Dream Runner”in a blog called “Dog Virgin Diaries“)

Check out those teeth and those strong jaws.  Not sweet digging into your flesh.  Well I was lucky because my mom was right there to save me.  Ever since I try to get under my daddys legs for safety — or hide in the ‘green room’ which is my parents easy-speak for the back poarch/storeroom.  My dad isn’t too happy that his beloved books are relegated to the dog-overflow room.  But that’s the way it is and we all have to accept some things we’d rather not.

Things could be worse.  The good old days were no better.  Check this out from 1898 where they shot dogs with bows and arrows for sport.  Michael Vick don’t get any ideas.

Archery with the Yumi Shooting a Dog -- Chikanobu--1898

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This blogging software is frustrating me today, so let me end with a new take on a red dog, like me.  Here it is:

Georg Grosz--Suicide--1916

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George Grosz (1893-1959) was a German artist, whose art was often critical of the Germany of his day.  He was drafted into the German army in 1914 and after his experiences in the trenches developed a  loathing for German society  savagely reflected as satirical paintings and drawings that in his words expressed ‘despair, hate and disillusionment’.  This painting is surely no exception, for we see a dead body, a prostitute, and dogs roaming around the scene.

With a little luck, and if Cosi, my sister,  stays at bay, my next post may be more upbeat.

Have a good day.

Rita the dog

Schuler and Brazier

Today for your viewing pleasure and contemplation I bring you Earl Schuler’s poster, “Report Dog Bites”, commissioned in 1941 by the Cleveland Healt Department.  Here it is:

Report Dog Bites -- Earl Schuler -- 1941

And, switching gears, a modern work of London based artist Richard Brazier.  This piece is at the National Portrait Gallery London.

Johnny and Glory -- Richard Brazier

I think this piece is from 2007 or 2008 but really I am just guessing.  Let me know if you have a date for it.

Keep on treking,

Rita the dog

Falling off the Wagon

Five months is a long time on the wagon.  There was no doubt I was an addict.  Any dog who spends upwards of 5 hours a day on the Internet is an addict.  Funny thing was, climbing on that wagon was nothing.  I just woke up one day with a total Internet aversion.  Even the idea of it made me nauseous.  Course the carbuncle I had on my tail was part of it.  Hurt every time I sat on the stool and tried my snagle-claw hunt and peck at the keyboard.  My dad wanted to take a picture of it.  What kind of taste is that.  No way.  A lady who seems real nice wants to see video of me at the keyboard.  Oh ye of little faith.  So I had a tail operation and here I am five months later rearing and ready to go — but not without guilt for slipping so smoothly off that bumpy wagon.

I have to admit that I have had a short spell answering questions over on Yahoo!Answers.  Some guy thought my avatar looked like a red bear.  And a lady said I should see a shrink, and the sooner the better.  I’m not sure she even believed I was a dog.  No dog-shrinks around here anyway.

So here it is, a few dog art treats for you today.  Sorry, I can’t remember where they came from.

1872 expression

1872 expression, pic 2

1872 expression, pic 3

1872 expression, pic 4

1872 expression, pic 5

That’s it for today.  Welcome back to my blog.

Your best friend,

Rita the dog

Tharpe Dogs

Its been a while. My apologies if you came here looking for something new but found nothing. Truth is, I’ve been under the weather for a spell. My dad says its ’cause I drank from a mud puddle. Thats my dad. He has a reason for everything. I drank from mud puddles lots of times and never got sick. So he says it wasn’t your average puddle, since it was right where all the cattle stood when they drank from the tank. That tank was too tall for me, so I drank from the cow-puddle. I don’t see why that matters. My young sister Cosi is big, strong, beautiful and healthy as a horse and she fancies warm cow-pies. If there’s a Michelle Vick out there organizing female dog fights, I’ll bet on Cosi. Every time. All I can say is if my dad is right we dogs have all gotten too domesticated.

So, since I’m still not feeling that perky, you’ll have to make do with a one picture post. It came from a wonderful little book called Appalachia: a Self-Portrait which is all photos from that part of rural America taken in the 1970’s by people who lived there. Dorothea Lange step aside. This is the real thing by the real people. Funny thing, though, this book, along with lots of other gems, was culled by the San Antonio Public Library back when me and Barney and Kitty-Kitty lived there, may they rest in peace. The basement sale people had the good sense to price it at $3, which was a lot, since most books were 25 cents or 50 cents or a buck. My dad scarfed it right up anyway. He has a thing for books.

So he shows me this one picture in that book showing, Fields and Pearl Tharpe, in their home in Auburn, West Virginia. They look pretty happy, an older couple sitting there with their two dogs who seem to be getting on a bit themselves — a lot of history on the wall behind them too. My dad said it reminded him of the Millers who lived up Murphy Creek and who fed him for a few weeks when his folks were away. Nice people and Mrs. Miller made real good biscuits and gravy. Myron, that was old man Miller, had bad emphysema which was because he had been mustard-gassed in World War I. Murphy Creek wasn’t in Appalachia, but it might as well have been. Country people, loggers and dust bowl Oakies, like from the Grapes of Wrath. They said ain’t and cain’t. My dad said ones’t you got the hang of it, it was right comfortable. He reckons it was easy but he cain’t talk that way no more. That was in South Western Oregon around 1959 and the locals called it “Murphy Crik”. There was a guy lived up Murphy Crik back then, loved his dog more than anything. Used to let it ride everywhere in the back of his pickup. One day he pulls up with no dog in his pickup. “What happened to your dog?” says my granddad (that would be my dad’s dad — I never did get to meet him). “Oh, had to shoot it–it wouldn’t listen or mind and I got so pissed I took my gun right off the rack and shot it”. That’s what the guy said. Go figure.

Well, Fields and Pearl Tharpe in the real Appalachia would never have done a thing like that. They’s good people. I can tell from the picture. Those dogs look real happy too, and I bet ones’t in a while they got biscuits and gravy.

Fields and Pearl Tharpe in Auburn, by Robert Cooper, around 1970

(see it big)

Till next time, your friend,

Rita the dog

Dog Tessellations

My dad wanted this on his blog. He said it was about geometry. I said it was dog art. He said the best you could say is that it was dog graphics. But we agreed on the dog part, so he had to capitulate.

A tessellation is like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces have the same shape but they still fit together without any gaps. The squares on a tile floor would be one example. The figure below is a more complicated tessellation which is composed of identical 9-sided polygons but has a 3 dimensional feel, appearing a bit like two snakes wrapping around eachother:

Cover image on Grünbaum/Shephard book: Tilings and Patterns

Click on the above image to see it larger and, for more information, see the description at my dad’s flicker page, here.

If it were possible to make a tessellation where each piece was a dog then you would have a dog tessellation. For a long time I didn’t think such a thing could exist. I knew about that Dutch master graphic artist named Escher. He did lots of tessellations where the pieces were animals, so I asked the old man if Escher ever did one with dogs. My dad has seen just about all the Escher art there is to see and he said there weren’t any with dogs. There was a pretty nice one with fish he said and he showed me this one, which isn’t too well known:

Escher–Fish on Textile–1942 (big)

Well, that’s that, I thought. But then one day the old nose got to sniffing and pretty soon sniffed out an Escher piece with dogs. Yup, thought I, there are some advantages to being a dog. I’m pretty sure Escher had it in a notebook or some private file, because its not done as carefully as the public work he exhibited, and parts of the red have faded since he made it, way back in 1938. But a dog tessellation it is, and possibly the first one ever made. Have a look:

Escher–Dog Tessellation–1938

I was pretty happy there were some red dogs in there, since, as you must know by now, I’m a red dog too. Those dogs really look like dogs and yet they fit together perfectly. I take my hat (figuratively speaking since I don’t actually have a hat) off to Escher. Maurits Cornelis Escher lived from 1898 to 1972. The official Escher web site, where you can see lots of his other work, is here.

Nowadays lots of clever people have created tessellation art similar to Escher’s tessellations with animal images. People today have the huge advantage of using special computer software to help them design and create the images. But you won’t see many woodcuts, and for my taste Escher did it best.

Here then are some modern dog tessellations. The first three are by Japanese graphics design artist Makoto Nakamura

Makoto Nakamura–dog tessellation 1–1993 (big)

Makoto Nakamura–dog tessellation 6–2004 (big)

To me those dogs look too much like rabbits. Here is the last example by this artist.

Makoto Nakamura–dog tessellation 7–1988 (big)

You can find a huge variety of other graphic art at Makoto Nakamura’s page, most of it not dog tessellations. Just click here.

The next image is a dog tessellation by Yoshiaki Araki, who appears to me to have been a youngster in Japan when he did tessellations. Information about this artist is scarce, but my reading of tea leaves leads me to believe that he parlayed his interest in tessellations to an interest in Kleinian and Fuchsian groups and computer graphics, got a PhD at Keio University, and found bigger fish to fry. This is guesswork, not fact, so don’t quote me, and if you must be sure to say you heard it from Rita the dog.

Yoshiaki Araki–dog–date unknown (big)

For the last dog tessellation, here is an image by a 10 year old girl named “Kaitlyn C”, who won some sort of prize for it.

Kaitlyn C–age 10–Dog Tessellation (big)

This concludes my post on dog tessellations. If you want to see more you can certainly find them on the Internet, but I would urge you to try and create one for yourself.

Good luck!

Rita the dog

The Incredible Lightness of Being

When I was a young dog I used to dream of flying. Birds soar. Dogs run. Wouldn’t it be nice if dogs could soar? I tried it once, long ago. It was in a park in San Antonio where my mom and dad used to walk with me and let me run. No interlopers back then. Just me, the top dog, the only dog. I used to love to run there and once in a while chase a squirrel. Those were the days: young, strong, happy. I felt like I could fly. On one side was the a bank of the dry river that only flowed when there were cloudbursts, which there certainly were back in San Antonio.

One day at the edge of the park I was so anxious to run that they let me loose early and I glimpsed a cat on the top of that 10 foot bank. I ran like the wind after it. Mom and dad walked as usual down the path, across the dry river bed, and on to the grass on the other side. Just when I was closing in on that cat, it darted and jumped and disappeared. Its scent was still wafting in the air. The game was up. I knew it was grinning somewhere, just out of sight.

Just then I heard my mom and dad calling me, “Rita! Rita! Rita come!”. So I turned and saw them in the distance on the grass. I was pumped and decided to run to them as fast as I could. I ran and ran toward them, totally forgetting there was a 10 foot drop just ahead, which I glimpsed at the very moment that I took off. I soared, I flew, and I felt grand. Oh, my God, dogs can fly! But just a few seconds and maybe 15 aerial feet later ecstasy turned to panic as I noticed the ground was moving up fast and it was going hit me.

Thud! I blacked out for a few seconds and then pain everywhere. I couldn’t move or get up or even breath. I could hear my dad saying as if through a fog: “She’s really hurt. She might die. I don’t believe she did that”. Then my mom said, “Quick, get the car. She can’t walk”. So my dad got the car and they carried me to it and drove me straight to the vet. By now I could breath OK but the pain was still intense. The vet examined me carefully and said it was impossible to tell if I had internal injuries, but I didn’t appear to have any broken bones. They took me home and kept me quiet and pretty soon I got better and could walk again. I limped for weeks, but gradually made a full recovery.

Now, when I feel high, like I want to fly, I just find some dog art I like and gaze. Here are three pictures I like when I feel that way. The first is for my uncle John, he is my human uncle and he lives in Alaska with his dog Duchess. You can see her picture on my flickr page. He’s a big fan of that dog sled race they have every year in Alaska. It’s called the Iditarod and it’s over 1150 miles long. The dogs that do all the work are truly incredible. Anyway, this painting makes me think of them. It was done in 1892 by Frederick Remington, an American Painter and Sculptor who lived from 1861 to 1909.

Huskie Dogs on the Frozen Highway (aka Talking Musquash)–Frederic Remington–1892 (big)

The next picture looks more like a happy dog jumping in the summer sunshine. It is called Jumping Dog ‘Schlick’ and was done by German artist Franz Marc (1880 – 1916) in 1908, eight years before his tragic death in world war I. Here is the picture, of a happy dog I like:

Jumping Dog-’Schlick’–Franz Marc–1908 (big)

The final picture for today is my dream. It is by the contemporary surrealist painter, Samuel Barrera, who is from Merida, Mexico. You can learn more about this artist and his work by clicking here.

Samuel Barrera–Didio Leaving

Your best friend,

Rita the dog