The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

  Observing the Observer

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children     1878     Pierre-Auguste Renoir 

   In portrait and still life work, artists are observers of the intimate—the interior worlds of home and studio. Here, the figure, the object, the people and animals which inhabit the space become the dominant focus. Finding and expressing a connection with them is essential to the expressive power of these paintings. The rule is simple: paint what you know and love. And so it is that we, along with our artist colleagues past and present, have painted our animal companions. Not only are they patient and generally serene models, but they also possess a dignity and acceptance of life that we would do well to try to emulate.

Itzcuintli Dog with Me     1938     Frida Kahlo

   We've sampled a few favorites here, from Impressionism to Futurism and have found great diversity and always a passionate sense of connection between artists and their own canine companions or those of the households they are painting. James H. Rubin focuses in his book, Impressionist Cats and Dogs: Pets in the Painting of Modern Life on the era of Impressionism, a time when dogs began to be included more often in portraits with families and not just as working animals. In some of these paintings, the dog is the only figure directly looking at the viewer, “acknowledging the outside world”, as it were, while his human companions are rendered as oblivious to the painter and viewer. Rubin writes:  “The tradition revealed . . . is one that turns the most ordinary visual scene into an extraordinary experience of art. By acknowledging the presence of an observer, the pets call attention to the maker of the image, and engage in a sort of dialogue with the viewer. Thus, Renoir and Cassatt used these pets not only to accompany and comment on the people in their pictures, but to call attention to their own presence as sensitive observers and creative portrayers of intimate scenes.” Often, the dog observes the observer.

A Dog in a Stable     Edwin Henry Landseer

Jumping Dog Schlick     1908     Franz Marc

Little Girl in an Armchair     1878     Mary Cassatt

Las Meninas     1656     Diego Velázquez

Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash     1912     Giacomo Balla

The Dog     ca. 1820     Francisco Goya

Girl with Dog     1886     Berthe Morisot