LONDON — In March 2023, Dog Portraits: From Gainsborough to Hockney opened at the Wallace Collection, postponed for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like its 2022 Disney exhibition enjoyed a large captive audience, broadening its potential visitor appeal beyond typical gallery-goers, so dogs will similarly find much of the population favorably predisposed. (Sorry cat lovers; maybe stay with Amsterdam From Kattenkabinet.)
The Wallace seems well aware of the schmaltzy and indulgent attitudes that dog lovers accord to man’s best friend; the show’s official hashtag is the tongue-in-cheek #WallaceWoofs, and its press release describes curator Dr. Xavier Bray as “himself the proud owner of two pugs, Bluebell and son, Winston.” The ridiculousness of this statement, if it were to appear in another artsy press release, speaks to how forgiving we are to our pets.
Nonetheless, Bray tries to frame the inquiry as academically as any other exhibit; it focuses on British fashion for collecting dog portraits over the centuries, so most of the loans come from British collections, and it is segmented into themes such as “Artists’ Dogs”, “Royal Dogs”, “Toy Dogs” and “Aristocratic Dogs,” with examples carefully demonstrating the histories and characteristics of pooches in those categories. Its opening section, “Drawn From Life”, examines instances of technical drawing, including a c. 1490–95 metalpoint study of a dog paw by Leonardo da Vinci, on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland.
The survey also excludes work with a human presence, adding a quasi-scientific element to its study of the “unique bond between humans and their canine companions” by positioning dogs as proxies for our human sensibilities. In its simplest form, this translates to dog portraits with more meaning for dog owners than the rest of us. A jarring swerve in David Hockney’s contemporary paintings of his dachshunds from various cropped angles, with little technical success, is like a friend showing you endless baby photos. Likewise, Queen Victoria’s amateur watercolor daubs of her dog “Pudge” (1850) are notable solely on account of their authorship.
This is an important part of the works of Landseer, which imbued narrative scenes of dogs with human qualities for moralizing and satirical purposes, which is intellectually and technically compelling. His 1848 “Alexander and Diogenes” uses different forms of race and anthropomorphized expressions to tell this classic moralizing story. Your ability to appreciate these pieces may be influenced by your opinion of how self-aware they seem; they are either the worst of insufferable Victorian sentimentality, or deliberately insignificant but entertaining tales suited to the fashionable tastes of the time. Looking at the fluffy animals among the trappings of judicial administration in his most successful article, “Laying Down the Law” (c. 1840), intended to satirize the legal system, Landseer was certainly aware of the power of the absurd. .
When it comes to exhibition themes, the “dog portraits” are somehow inspired, open and restrictive, as demonstrated here. Unlike other exhibits presenting an unusual theme or thesis, the exhibit does not seem to stretch to present its breathless subject “as you have never seen it before”, or to emphasize undercurrents. estimated. Plus, much like the dogs themselves, it’s a complementary companion to human history. Even so, the enduring appeal of the subject matter and the built-in emotional response from many viewers — even those indifferent to our canine friends will likely find the very premise amusing — almost guarantees enjoyment.
Dog Portraits: From Gainsborough to Hockney continues at the Wallace Collection (Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, England) until October 15. The exhibition was curated by Dr. Xavier Bray.
