At a Fine Arts Auction House, the Artists (and Buyers) Go to the Dogs
Posted on May 22, 2009 by Craig Thompson in Arts & Culture
By C.W. Thompson
At a generous estimate, about half of the 60 folding chairs set up in the main bidding room of Doyle’s New York were occupied. It was the auction house’s 11th Dogs In Art auction and on this recent midweek afternoon, with New York in the throes of a trickle-down recession, empty seats were not unexpected. But even in a recession, the niche world of sporting art auctions saw a few brave souls come away with their own prized purchases.
The auction’s offerings ranged from lower-priced porcelain, ceramic, cast iron and marble dogs to higher-priced etchings and paintings featuring dogs, horses and birds. For the most part, the dogs presented in hunting scenarios fetched the highest asking price, peaking at $20,000 for a breed portrait of a pointer from William Harnden Foster, an avid sportsman and pointer specialist. The other paintings showed dogs sniffing out their prey, dogs clamping down on birds, and dogs portrayed with one paw raised expectantly above the ground, as the animal waits for a bird to fall out of the sky. Other paintings featured men on horses, men firing guns, dogs in portrait, and fox hunts.
