About Me

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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

vintage photo time


All from the Museum collection . . .


 Border collies herd elderly aunties, too?


1973: "My baby Cap."



1973: That's a lot of puppies.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

some useful and amusing pet infographics

thanks vintageimages.org.  i've been wanting to use this one forever.
You know how you're always trying to remember whatever that frequency is at which cats purr?  It's a range from 20 to 140 Hz (hertz).  That finally stuck in my head thanks to this infographic on all the swell things cat purrs can do for you.
Meanwhile, here I learn (among lots of other things)  that 16% of dog owners bought a house or a car with the family dog in mind.  (One of our cars at the Museum actually was.  The porta-kennel fit in the back.)
Do you even remember a world without lolcats?
Do you know the human/dog bond goes gene deep?
Woof vs. Meow:  wait till you see where Paul McCartney and George Harrison show up in this.

Bonus that has nothing to do with anything else here: Construct the perfect s'more.


Monday, April 28, 2014

ouch neko

thanks wikimedia commons (PD: old)
Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1797-1861) was a master at portraying women and cats, the latter often with a great deal of humor. I see this print most often identified as "Women, Number 8."  On one occasion I have also seen it titled, "Ouch."

Sunday, April 27, 2014

honorable mr. cat

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US)
That's the title of this woodblock print by American artist Helen Hyde (1868-1919).  Hyde began her art studies at twelve, and in young adulthood studied at the San Francisco School of Design and abroad in Berlin, Paris, Holland and England.  In 1899 an interest in Japanese art and culture took her to that nation, and it was there she found her truest inspiration.  You may read about her life and work here.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

love me, love my dog, 1500's

In which the Tudor poet George Turberville (1530-1600) shows an erstwhile girlfriend the door for her treatment of his dog.  Longtime Museum friends know I've a very soft spot for Tudor and Elizabethan poetry because of its uniquely plainspoken elegance.  This is another example of that quality: gets right to the point, gracefully.  And with that, let's kiss off the mean lady, who deserves a beast (the mastiff line, fifth down) more than tender affections:

TO HIS LOVE: THAT CONTROLLED
HIS DOG FOR FAWNING ON HER

INDEED, my dear, you wrong my dog in this
And shew yourself to be of crabbéd kind ;
That will not let my fawning whelp to kiss
You first, that fain would shew his master’s mind:
A mastiff were more fit for such an one
That cannot let her lover’s dog alone.

He in his kind for me did seem to sue,
That erst did stand so highly in your grace,
His master’s mind the witty spaniel knew,
And thought his wonted mistress was in place:
But now at last, good faith, I plainly see
That dogs, more wise than women, friendly be.

Wherefore since you so cruelly ill-treat
My whelp, not forcing of his fawning cheer,
You shew yourself with pride to be replete,
And to your friend your nature doth appear:
The proverb old is verified in you,—
“ Love me and love my dog,” and so adieu.

Both I and he that silly beast sustain,
For loving well and bearing faithful hearts,
Dispiteous checks and rigorous disdain,
Where both hath well deserved for our parts
For friendship I, for offered service he-
And yet thou neither lov'st the dog nor me.

-- Found in Parson, J. The Friendly Dog: an Anthology, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1912. pp. 1-2.

Friday, April 25, 2014

marfa apraxsina and her dog

thanks wikimedia commons (PD: old)
Here's Tsarina Marfa Apraxina (1664-1716), second wife of Tsar Feodor III of Russia.  Marvelous, isn't she?  But for all the glory of her jewel-encrusted hat and choker and...well, everything, the most exquisite part of this portrait is her dog.  Here's another look at him:


Apparently there was a very tiny Russian Lapdog breed in the 1800's for sure; you can see a taxidermied example on this page.  I think this creature is too leggy to be that, and that breed is no longer to be found today anyway. Here's a recently developed breed that looks somewhat like, though: the RTB, Russkaya tsvetnaya bolonka.  Have a look at these puppies from an RTB breeder and see if you think they look like our Imperial friend.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

vintage photo time

all, from the museum collection


Something seems endearingly goofy about this horse, 
as though he's too short and his feet are too big.  I think he's cute.



Slippers? Check.  Purse? Check.
Enormous cat?  Check.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

quick extra post: i bring you a knightly guineapig

(I found him on Reddit.)  He must be a noble cavy; he's wearing armor.

the irishman's pet

The following note on the favorite Irish pet is found in a book of essays on the nations of the world. . .
* * *
The pig is the favourite animal. The Irish treat him as kindly as their children, give him a corner of the hut, and share their milk, and potatoes, and bread with him. At last the day comes when the pig must be taken to be sold. The master ties a wisp of straw round piggy's hind leg, and so he drives him along the road, till he comes to the ship in which poor piggy is to sail for England. The Irishman is very sorry to lose his pet—his pig. It is very droll to see the pigs put on board the ships, and to hear their masters bidding them good-bye.
* * *
But wait! Here's some bonus observations on the Irish people!
* * *
Dress. — Rags. This is the dress of the poor Irish. They do not mend their clothes, so the holes get larger and larger. Their coats are made of a gray woollen cloth called "frieze," and they are worn till they drop off the back: first one tail of the coat comes off, then the other, and then the sleeves disappear, till at length nothing but a heap of rags remains. Their hats often get wet with the rain, and at last the crown comes out, yet they are worn as long as they will stick on the head. . .
Character.—What sort of people are the Irish? The merriest, drollest people in the world. They are very kind and good-natured when pleased, but if affronted, are filled with rage. The poor men are fond of drinking and keeping company with their friends; but they often quarrel with them, and then they call them names and throw things at them, and cover them with bruises. . .
* * *
From Favell Lee Mortimer, The countries of Europe described: with anecdotes and numerous illustrations (New York: G.S. Appleton, 1850) pp. 51-54.  Mrs. Mortimer was an English Evangelical author of educational texts; her travel books are particularly notable given that she left England only twice.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

fierce dogs of the chase!

via discarding images. thanks. LA, Getty, Ms. 27, fol. 81v
Brittany, around 1430:  the great sportsman Gaston Phoebus (Count of Foix; 1331-91) settles down to write a masterwork on his favorite activity.  He calls it the Livre de la Chasse (Book of the Hunt) and dedicates it to Philip the Bold.  He doesn't create the illuminations, but they're part of the reason people treasure this book and know his name.  Here are some fierce dogs on the task, but would you like to see some more of the book's rich illustrations?  You may see some pages here.

Monday, April 21, 2014

a dog-paced trip to the country

thanks wikimedia commons (PD: old; PD:US)
On a Country Outing (Partie de campagne) the woman's got the reins of the situation, but she's taking it slow.  I can tell because the dog is loping along behind, even though there's room in the cart.  This sunny, tenderly tinted lithograph of 1897 shows a sweeter side of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.  Here he shows us the open promise of a smooth road ahead, a gently-paced getaway to share with friends of the two and four footed kind.  Do notice how well-observed the cart is, and how nimble the lines are which make up its structure.  Look also at how line is used to show the soft flowing fur of the dog as he moves forward.  Delicate lines in both cases, but adapted just so for each use.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

a thoughtful rabbit for your easter

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:100)
Here's Hans Hoffmann (German, 1530-1591), considered the best of the Albrecht Durer copyists, with a remake of Durer's Hare.  We last saw him revamp a Durer squirrel.  As with that work, here we see an animal less feral, wiry and wary.  This animal is plumper, more relaxed.  Durer's hare has a cold bright appraisal in his eyes; here we see more curiosity than fear, borne out by a comfortable slump over one paw.  Notice the "AD" monogram below the nose.  Hoffmann wasn't trying to fool anyone, but he didn't replicate his Durers stroke for stroke for the most part.  Was he trying to create the kinder, gentler Durer, or is this an example of how an artist's base nature will out?
In any case, he's a friendly face for your holiday.  Rabbits are a Christian symbol of rebirth and resurrection, and I wish you all the renewed vitality of this new season (depending on which side of the world I find you!).

Happy Easter!

Friday, April 18, 2014

friday pet facts from hither and yon

In 1924 a black Labrador was sentenced to life in prison for catslaughter.  Or was he?  Don't let the mug shot fool you.

The Dickin Medal is awarded in the United Kingdom and "acknowledges outstanding acts of bravery displayed by animals serving with the Armed Forces or Civil Defence units in any theatre of war, worldwide."  It has been awarded to one cat, three horses, twenty-eight dogs, and thirty-two pigeons.

A bizarre and charming vintage photo of a German soldier with a kitten.  And a whole big bunch of Russian military cat photos (Russian captions, natch). Sailors love kitties, I'm telling you.

Astronomer Edwin Hubble's favorite cat was named Nicholas Copernicus.  Read about their relationship.



A long read but worthy: Adam Gopnik muses on how the dog became our master in this New Yorker essay.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

a cat wigs out...of town

From a chatty volume of anecdotes dating from 1830's London, a story about a cat who found a hopefully comfortable way to travel.  (I personally hope the creature got spoiled thereafter as she deserved.)
* * *
Cat Anecdote.—During Sergeant Talfourd's recent sojourn at Shrewsbury Assizes, a cat was very fond of the learned counsellor's room. His clerk, while packing up, had occasion to leave one of the trunks open, and in the hurry of departure closed it suddenly, and corded it for the journey. On arriving at Hereford, a strange noise was heard to proceed apparently from one of the trunks. The clerk proceeded to open it, when, lo! out jumped the identical cat of Shrewsbury memory, which, on further examination, it appeared, had deposited "a batch of fine young kittens" in the learned sergeant's wig.—Hereford Journal.

--The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, vol. 21, Reuben Percy & John Timbs, editors (J. Limbird, 1833) p. 304

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

vintage photo time




all images from the museum collection

This last one is the only image with any sort of explanation: on the back, "Spokane Wa."

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

sea dog by douglas hoover

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist
North Carolina artist Douglas Hoover loves an immediate image and coastal light.  Here's his "Sea Dog" (print of an oil original), a Boston Terrier looking for his skipper in the bright whites and blue shadows of life on the water.  I'm attracted to his bold structuring of forms through saturated, high-key blocks of color.  The way he's portrayed the compact musculature of a Boston through shadow and highlight is a pleasure to see - you can tell where to poke Boston's tight flank or pet his rump and feel the tailwag ripple through his body.  Not to mention (but I'm going to mention) the excellent rendition of sunshine; I wish I had sunglasses when I look at this piece.
He's another to be found on Etsy, where you can see more of how excellent he is at sun and water.  His blog is also worth a trip, as is his website.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

a border collie's repose: meet nicole strasburg

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist
Athena is a Border Collie.  She's 13 here, but like her goddess namesake, even while resting she knows the value of consciousness and wisdom, and keeps an eye on the world before her.  In this etching, Santa Barbara artist (and Athena's mom) Nicole Strasburg keeps the worldview infinite by keeping the image simple:  Athena seated in the shadow of her specific monitoring spot, gazing forward into a day that could hold anything.
In a very recently completed tiny gouache painting, seen below, of her "two muses," Molly (red/white) and Skye (black/white), you can see even more of what Nicole means when she writes on her website:
"My process comes from internal urgings and emotional influences rather than intellectual ones. The paintings are records of connections and the allure of knowing a place intimately. They show understanding of location and environment. I compose using series of photographs taken while out on hikes or long walks. The goal is simplicity, editing out all but the basic design structure."

copyright and by kindest permission of the artist
Here's a link to Border Collie Repose 2 at Nicole Strasburg's Etsy shop.
Her blog, Pentimento, full of peeks at works in beautiful creation, is here.
A detailed page with many images is over at her dealers Sullivan Goss.  Also Susan Street Fine Art.

dog learning

thanks vintageimages.org (PD)
So I've just found The Open University's Hound Hub, a generous handful of online presentations on our oldest friends. Here's a 10-minute piece on dogs and the poor in Renaissance-era drama.  Or I can learn what cynicism and dogs have in common.  Elsewhere the OU has an overview of their three-episode series on The Wonder of Dogs.
Let's not forget DogChannel.com's Dog College where you can do a short course with a quiz in many doggy subjects, from Dog Communication 101 to Canine Culture 401.
Would you like to try a class with a bit more commitment and rigor?  MIT Open Courseware has People and Other Animals, a historical survey of human/animal interactions.
All these courses are free, and a fun way to stretch your mind toward different aspects of dog life!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

the widow

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US)

Frederick Dielman (German-American, 1845-1935) was a number of things in his lifetime: a draughtsman for the US Army Corps of Engineers, director of the art schools at Cooper Union, president of the National Academy of Design, and an illustrator for luxe book editions, just to name a few.  
His genre pieces were particularly successful.  Here's one, The Widow (exact date not known, but sometime from the 1860's to 1890's).  I'm fascinated by this much-reproduced color lithograph, created to appeal and to sell.  Yes, it's obviously the forerunner of all today's masses of cat imagery/memes, an instant cuteness grab, but it is so odd.  Why an Elizabethan collar?  Why The Widow?  Is that title the only reason why I think this creature looks melancholy?  What was this successful, clearly canny man thinking when he made this, and who was the real widow?

Friday, April 11, 2014

one of the family

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US) click to enlarge
That's the title of this luminous piece, dated 1880, by Frederick George Cotman (British; 1850-1920).  I'm sure no humble front room in any of those decades was ever as sundrenched and spotless as this.  That's not the point of such work: domestic genre art is about tugging the heartstrings toward how it could have, should have been.  By glossing up the best of our wishful memories, it may even prompt us to better behavior.  One of the Family received good notice when purchased by Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery in 1880, as it showed an example of kindness to animals in the treat being handed out to the horse.  Not every day one comes across a begging horse (do you see his fellow beggar?  Look at the young woman's lap).

Thursday, April 10, 2014

centuries of watchdog

Figure of a Recumbent Dog, 4th century. Gray earthenware with red polychrome, 3 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 3 5/8 in. (9.2 x 15.8 x 9.2 cm).
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Guennol Collection, 1998.85.1. Creative Commons-BY

Image: overall, 1998.85.1_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
This imposing fellow has been at his post since the 4th century, the Six Dynasties period of Chinese history.  Though this was a time of political upheaval, the arts at this time became less about state-sanctioned imagery and more about personal statement.  Poetry, in particular, is considered to have enjoyed a remarkable development in its emphasis on human love and relationships.  However, looking at the sensitive and even comic face of this dog, I see the proof of another relationship.  Most likely this was a funeral figurine, meant to watch loyally over the deceased.

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

r.i.p. beef, bibi, and ba-ba: hyde park's hidden pet cemetery

Snap. Fairy. Trix.
There are 300 pets nestled in a little spot in London.  The Hyde Park Pet Cemetery closed its grounds to new burials in 1903, but the stones and stories remain.  Here's one article and photos.

Tippo, Isaac, Pomme de Terre.
Hidden in the garden of the Victoria Gate Lodge, friends rest in the earth, with loving messages marking where they sleep.

Drag. Smut. Carry.
The Victorians could have quite a flair for names, even including ones we find frankly tasteless now. (Though us moderns are no slouch either, as you saw in this post.  Tip of the hat to Baby Driver, State of Maine, and Spatula.)

My Ruby Heart died Sept. 14 1897. For seven years we were such friends.
Here is the text of an article on the cemetery dated 1901, two years before it closed its doors.  Here's the Atlas Obscura page on the cemetery, too.


Tuesday, April 08, 2014

a great dane fan versifies

I have to say this is another to add to my mental file named Bad pet poetry would be the easiest book to put together ever.  Here's Harry Leslie St. Clair, whose book Memory's Ship and Other Poems (vanity published in Gresham, OR in 1922) includes such gems as "Ode to A Spoon" and "What's Wrong?" It also delights us with this glorification of the Great Dane:

THE DOG FOR ME
There are dogs and dogs, so great a pack
Some wish they'd go and not come back.
The little curs infest the town
And turn the country upside down.
Give me the Dane, who'll work or play
With man or child the livelong day.
He's large and strong and firm as steel
When danger lurks or foes conceal.

The pug is good for naught, I ween
Caress the thing? I wouldn't be seen.
The poodle's just a clown, you know.
No use on earth except for show.
But when Great Dane steps out before
The world's high ginks galore
You know a prince walks down the aisle
And holds his rank with grace the while.

The terrier's a boistrous chap.
He thinks it's fun to yap and yap.
Will dig all night to catch a rat.
Some folks prefer to own a cat.
Not much for noise is my Prince Dane.
He never looks or acts insane.
But when he undertakes to speak
You 'll know his voice is far from weak.

Some dogs there are can't see for hair.
Grotesque, absurd beyond compare.
Can't tell which end is front or rear.
Think they'd inspire a thief with fear?
But Prince is of a royal line.
His eye, his brain can near divine
The thoughts you think, the way you feel.
The Dane will make a strong appeal.

Each dog will celebrate his day,
But few will go to heaven, I pray.
The Shepherd, St. Bernard and Dane
Are dogs you'll want to meet again.
Then give the Dane to me, I say.
The child, the home, the man, all day
And night, are safe from man or beast
While he's on guard—and lives—at least.


Monday, April 07, 2014

dogs get comfy

PD courtesy of the rijksmuseum
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5507

It's bedtime.  You drag off your socks, looking forward to hitting the hay, hoping your sheets won't be clammy.  No problem.  Your dog will be very happy to keep your pillow warm for you.  Oh, did you want to sleep here too?  Apparently this is an impulse as old as dogs and beds, as we see in Woman at her Toilet dated 1655-1660 by Jan Havicksz. Steen.  Interesting note: since you can see far up this young lady's bare legs, this painting was for years considered so improper that a longer skirt was painted in.  That was revised about 100 years ago.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

a dog naps, a cat plots

PD courtesy the rijksmuseum
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.298752
Here's a drawing circa 1892 by the master of the pet portrait, Henriette Ronner-Knip (Dutch, 1821-1909).  The guard dog, on a far too short chain for my liking, sleeps while the wild birds partake from his dish.  But who might seize that opportunity?  Well, let's see. . .



This guy, that's who.
Look out, birds!  And don't you forget to take this to heart yourself.  I cannot help but think Ronner-Knip intended this as a gentle lesson; the genre painters of the 19th c. never could let a chance at moralizing go by.

Friday, April 04, 2014

more friday vintage cute from my aunt

all photos believed US:PD in good faith.  please advise if otherwise

Friday morning has left me in a rush, but here's some more from Aunt Melinda's treasure trove.


A heavily awarded pug?


A dog and his soldier: always a fine pairing.

Thursday, April 03, 2014

all the evidence points to this being a cat

book in public domain
Say you have a Cat in one basket and a Dog in the other.  How may your strict factual observation tell you which Critter you are currently manhandling?  This page from a 1901 children's natural science reader may help. (Click on image to get a bit bigger view.)  Please pay attention to the illustration of "A Cat's Mouth."  What kind of a cat did they have there?  A panther?
From Frederick William Hackwood, Chatty object lessons in nature knowledge: being companion object lessons to Longman's Chatty readings in elementary science (Longmans, Green, 1901) page 108.

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

firehouse skunk



(Clip courtesy footagefarm on youtube; footage is public domain.)
Universal Newsreel was a Universal Studios offshoot that produced newsreels from 1929 to 1967.  Sometime earlier rather than later, Vancouver, Washington -- a town I know very well indeed - made it to newsreel history when the local fire department picked up a temporary mascot.  Yes, a skunk went joyriding with the VFD.  I haven't been able to find out the year, but didn't want that to keep you from this curious sight.  Looks like it was a bit later than the fashion for pet "sachet kittens."  I think it's the 30's.  

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

i think the dog's wowed by the hairstyle

thanks wikimedia commons / rijkmuseum (PD)
Take a deep breath, because this is Alida Christina Provo Kluit-Assink.  (And her dog, since dogs have been visual shorthand for "fidelity" for centuries.)  This mannered, but luminous 1833 portrait by Jan Adam Kruseman shows us the wife of Amsterdam police official, mayor, and ultimately Parliament member Hendrik Provo Kluit.  As you would imagine, a man of such talent and drive has what it takes to get a lovely wife and provide for her well, although back then it was always probable she was the one with the family money backing her husband's rise.  In any case it won't do to be a person of substance without the portrait to prove it, so here's Alida in a lavish dress wearing a long gold chain, with her hair up in a painstaking arrangement.
I just realized her dog looks like he's "pointing" her hair.  Perhaps he thinks it's a quail or a pheasant or whatnot.