6 famous artists that paint cats and dogs
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Six paintings of cats and dogs by Ron Burns, Louis Wain, Otto Eerelman, Sir Edwin Landseer, Laurel Burch, and Kash Coolidge.
Cats and dogs in art - what artists are famous for painting cats and dogs?
Several famous artists are known for featuring cats and dogs in their paintings, drawings, and illustrations. The first one that comes to mind is Ron Burns.
Screen shot
of Ron Burn's website at ronburns.com
Ron Burns
Born on December 22, 1954 in Bryan, Ohio, contemporary artist Ron Burns started out painting his family pets as a way to relieve stress. Before long he was painting shelter animals, other people's dogs and cats, rescue dogs, and therapy dogs.
Ron Burns is famous for the paintings he did of Sirius, the explosive-detection dog that died on 9/11 in NYC. Burn's paintings of Sirius brought the amazing abilities of rescue dogs to the attention of the world.
Ron Burns is also the artist-in-residence at The Humane Society of the United States! That in itself is quite an honor.
Of all the dog and cat artists, Burns seems to easily capture an animal's aura or spirit with bright neon hues and muted pastels. Whether it's the lighting or the facial expressions of Burns' subjects, the resulting artwork pulls all the heart-strings.
Visit Ron Burns' website to purchase his originals and limited editions, or visit Art.com to buy a print.
Colorful
cat images by Louis Wain provided by Wiki Commons.
Louis Wain (August 5, 1860 – July 4, 1939)
Born near London, in the United Kingdom, Louis Wain is responsible for changing the way people think about domesticated cats.
Before his illustrations became popular, cats in the Victorian era were seen as pests or at best, cheap rodent control. Once people became familiar with Wain's anthropomorphized (human-like) cats and kittens, felines of all breeds became viewed as cute, household pets. Wain was the best thing to happen to domesticated cats since the dawn of history!
Wain illustrated hundreds of books, journals, annuals, magazine articles, greeting cards, calendars, and post cards with pictures of cats. His cats are shown skating, riding bicycles, dancing, singing, getting married, and having parties. They wear clothes, smoke cigars, and play cards!
Louis Wain spent the last years of his life in a mental hospital where he continued to produce paintings of cats, many of them done on glass mirrors. The asylum now has a whole section dedicated to Wain's art called the Bethlem Museum of the Mind.
As Wain's mental illness progressed, his style of painting changed, too. Wain's cats went from being cute and cuddly, to bold and electrifying. It is quite the transformation!
Photo of straw purse with Laurel Burch blue cats by Janice Boling
Laurel Burch (December 31, 1945 – September 13, 2007)
Born in San Francisco , California , Laurel Burch was a flower child and self-taught artist. She started out by selling handmade jewelry on the streets of Haight Ashbury during the psychedelic 60's.
I can imagine all the hippies, rock musicians, and other artists listening to Strawberry Alarm Clock, smoking weed, and ushering in the age of free love. I bet Laurel saw all kinds of amazing things that inspired her artwork for years to come.
Laurel married a musician, had two children, and became a successful artist, jewelry designer, and business woman. Laurel Burch designs remain popular today and are sold online and in stores.
I have one of Laurel Burch's vintage straw purses featuring colorful blue cats. The cats make me smile every time I look at them. Here is a link to her website where you can read about Laurel Burch's inspiration for fantastic felines.
Painting
of dogs playing poker by Kash Coolidge provided by Wiki Commons
Kash Coolidge (September 18, 1844 – January 13, 1934)
Born in Antwerp, New York, Coolidge was raised by Quaker parents. He worked as a druggist, banker, and founded a newspaper while still in his twenties. Still a young man, Coolidge started with cartoons and moved on to painting cut-outs for use in novelty photography.
He is credited with inventing the canvas photo op's for use at carnivals and fairs. You could stand behind the cut-out and become a muscular weight-lifter or hula dancer! These type props are still used today but are usually made out of wood, plastic, or cardboard instead of canvas.
From painting the comic foregrounds with caricature bodies, Coolidge moved on to painting dogs. Anthropomorphic dogs were his specialty and Kash did sixteen oils of dogs playing pool, dancing, and participating in human activities. In over half of the paintings, Coolidge's dogs are playing poker!
On a side note, I remember going to The Varsity in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1960's and 70's. The Varsity, a popular hangout, was located next to Georgia Tech right in the middle of downtown. The restaurant had a large Coolidge mural on one of their walls. I wonder what ever happened to it.
Photo
of artist Otto Eerelman provided by Wiki Commons
Otto Eerelman (March 23, 1839 - October 3, 1926)
Born in the Netherlands, Otto Eerelman's artistic talents were recognized early on. He attended Academie Minerva and the Royal Academy of of Fine Art before traveling to Paris and Brussels to study abroad at several art studios. He also taught at the Academie for a while.
Eerelman went on to become a court painter, with horses and dogs as his main subjects. In 1898, a book with forty of Eerelman's lithographs was published. It featured Queen Wilhelmina's horses and became very popular.
Otto Eerelman is best known for his dog portraits. He preferred large dogs like St. Bernard's, but painted all sizes and breeds. Eerelman's dog's are very realistic, with shiny coats and life-like eyes. Otto excelled at capturing the expressions of all the dogs he painted.
Image of Edward
Landseer with sketchbook, pen, and two dogs provided by Wiki Commons
Sir Edward Landseer (March 7,1802 - October 1, 1873)
Born in London, Landseer's artistic talents emerged at a young age. By the time he was thirteen, his work was on display at the Royal Academy!
A distinguished figure in British art, Landseer's animal paintings made him famous. His 1820 painting Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler (1820), is credited with casting the snow-loving St. Bernard breed as brandy-carrying rescue dogs.
Edward Landseer was a fast painter. Maybe it was because he could paint with both hands at the same time! I can picture Edward painting the ears of a dog with his left hand and the tip of its tail with his right.
Sometime around age 35, Landseer suffered a mental breakdown. This caused bouts of severe depression and other mental issues that lasted throughout his life.
Landseer's painting could be found in middle-class homes and the homes of aristocrats. Queen Victoria commissioned several paintings of her pets from Edward and they became friends. Before long he was doing the Queen's portrait, portraits of her husband, and portraits of her children.
Sir Edward Landseer was knighted in 1850 and his work can be seen in museums around the world.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-59518847
https://museumofthemind.org.uk/collections/gallery/artists/louis-william-wain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassius_Marcellus_Coolidge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Eerelman
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5368051
Thank you for reading my blog, Jan
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