Dog Art

Where dog-art is concerned, New York City is a pretty impressive kennel, reports Randy Kennedy in the New York Times (2/10/12). In and around town, "there is Balto, the bronze Siberian husky who has stood at attention in Central Park since 1925, commemorating the sled dog who helped deliver medicine to save Nome, Alaska, from a diphtheria epidemic." The Metropolitan Museum of Art has "dogs around practically every corner."

Jennifer Russell, the Met’s associate director of exhibitions, is especially fond of Howling Canine, "a fifth-to-sixth century Mexican ceramic of what could be a mutt or maybe a coyote in full-body howl, practically rising up on its tail." She thinks the dog "represents how we all feel at the end of a very long week. And if we were dogs, we would howl." Other notable Met dogs include Boy With a Greyhound and A Woman with a Dog (and no, it’s not the way it sounds).

In March, the Morgan Museum & Library will celebrate dogs and other animals in a special exhibit that includes "a 19th century illustration by John Waxman of "Odysseus’ faithful hound, Argos, who waited 20 years in Ithaca for his master’s return, recognizing him even through his master’s disguise and summoning just enough energy to greet him a final time before dying." Curator Clara Drummond comments: "It’s hard to think of a story more central to our deep relationship with our animals. It’s as moving as the war itself, and as powerful as Greek tragedy."