In 1911, Robert Leighton published The New Book of the Dog — a 300-page volume, surveying the natural history, breeding practices and veterinary concerns of the era’s most popular breeds. Dozens of paintings and illustrations accompany Leighton’s essays, including works by artists such as Lilian Cheviot, Frances C. Fairman, and Maud Earl. Below we’ve featured our favorite images from the collection.
Materials made available by the Internet Archive.
Text and images from The New Book of the Dog, by Robert Leighton. Published in 1911 by Cassell and Company, Limited.
The Sporting Life is a celebration of gundogs and horses, hunting and fishing as expressed through the rich and exuberant paintings of Joseph Sulkowski.
Acclaimed as one of America’s premier dog and sporting artists, Sulkowski shares his personal conversation with the outdoor life in a style of Poetic Realism. Influenced and guided by the hands of the Old Masters, he creates fluid brushstrokes that imbue his canvases with a compelling blend of light, atmosphere, and spatial effects that bring his passion for the sporting life into vivid focus for the viewer.
Whether it’s still-lifes, dog paintings or scenes of hunters and anglers, Joseph Sulkowski derives his inspiration from personal contact with the natural world. He carries out his visions through a lifelong discipline to his craft in which hand-ground paints, carefully prepared oils and varnishes, and handcrafted linen canvases and gessoed panels play a vital role in the quality of each work of art.
All this and more about the immensely gifted artist is detailed by author Brooke Chilvers, one of the foremost experiets on wildlife and sporting art. Altogether, the large-format, 240 pages book features more than 180 paintings and dozens of sketches.
