Pets & Artwork

Artists can be creatively influenced by anything that sparks their interest. For some artists, that includes animals and pets. Artists like John James Audubon made a living drawing and painting nothing but wildlife. He painted, cataloged, and described the birds of North America in a form far superior to what had gone before. In his outsize personality and achievements, he seemed to represent the new American nation of the United States. American artist and ornithologist.

While Georgia O’Keeffe is best known for her over sized flower renditions, she also did some magnificent paintings on animals bones, often the skulls of cattle. Just as with the flowers, Georgia O'Keeffe painted the bones magnified and captured the stillness and remoteness of them, while at the same time expressing a sense of beauty that lies within the desert.

Henri Rousseau was best known for his bold pictures of the jungle, teeming with flora and fauna. His "Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)" (shown here)was exhibited in 1891, and Rousseau received his first serious review, when the young artist Félix Vallotton wrote: "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting."

One of the more famous works in low brow art is the dogs playing poker. Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is  well known for creating paintings of dogs playing poker. He actually created a whole series of oil paintings in the 1920s depicting dogs engaging in many different human activities.