Pictures of dogs on leashes, dogs posing and other various works of dog art are all the rage at the moment with “dogs only” art auctions popping up after the Westminster Dog Show and around various cities in the United States.
Not only is dog art all the rage, the recently interest in the movement is helping drive up the price of popular works of dog art with two auction records set in 2012 for the popular dog artist William Henry Hamilton Trood (1860-1899) who’s “Dejeuner” sold for $194,500. The other record was for Trood’s “Hounds in a Kennel” which featured a selling price of $212,500.
Dog art is so big these days that the Bonhams’ Dogs in Show & Field auction is devoted solely to the art form. In the meantime the William Secord Gallery in Manhattan is the only gallery in the United States devoted solely to dog art. William Secord tells Newser:
“We have had an increase in visitors over past years, but also a substantial increase in sales compared to this time last year.”
From now through March 24 the gallery is selling 150 dog pieces that were provided by Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge to the Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, N.J.
High priced dog art isn’t a new art form, a 6-by-7-foot portrait of a Newfoundland sold for $3.6 million in 1999, that painting was created by George Stubbs (1724-1806).
Other famous works of dog art have also managed to sell for large sums over the last several years. American painter Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1884-1934), known for his works of dogs playing poker had one painting sell for $602,500 at the Doyle Auction House in New York.
While some auction houses feature paintings of cats they are generally in short supply and sell for low prices.
Are you surprised to learn that dog art has become such a hot commodity in recent years?
[Image via ShutterStock.com ]
