Whilst browsing an online sketchbook I came across a dog sleeping so comfortably among the boats and trees and architectural designs that I thought if I turned the page I may wake her. It made me wonder what other low-lying dogs were sleeping in the Library’s collection? A catalogue search returned many breeds captured in watercolours, ink, pencil, engravings, photos…, some of which I have outed below.
Author and Illustrator Dorothy Wall shows offer her talent in the pen and watercolour, below. This 1930’s woman dressed in skirt, tie and beret need not meet our gaze, confident to look wherever she wants, content to be pulled along by the trotting Scottish Terrier, their orange ties matching the advancing clouds. Wall is well known as the creator of the Blinky Bill series, featuring another animal, an adventurous koala.
At halftime, Tara the Irish wolfhound made it into the Fairfield Falcon’s dressing room. She is looking a little forlorn- perhaps trying to convince her owner to chuck it in and take her for a walk, or is she pleading for a second half comeback?
Photographer C. Fox of Geelong captured a singing (or is it yawning?) boy and his pet; the lad going low, his best mate going high. Perhaps it had been a long photo shoot? Below this, poet C.J. Dennis records the thrill of the chase with his drawing My dog (after rabbits). The half-buried dog nearly up-ending herself in dedication to the cause.
A theatrical mask of Bill Sykes and Bull’s Eye from Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist features real hair, real felt and real menace in the human’s eyes and dog’s incisors.
Only the little head of the dog can be seen desperately trailing her master in S.T. Gill’s Floods on the Hunter, High Street, West Maitland. The rider seems confident his dog will follow, but from high on horse-back the water might not look so deep. No doubt the dogs’ legs are peddling faster than the horse’s careful strides.
Both the owner and dog’s face are framed by black curls in the [Portrait of Mrs. Caroline Liardet], below. Whilst Mrs Liardet looks off stage, perhaps unimpressed by how long this portrait is taking, the dog is on high alert, ready to leap at any suspicious viewer.
The husky in the below Rennie Ellis image seems suitably unimpressed to be at the beach. I can just imagine the conversation before they made their way there:
Husky: ‘Really? The beach? Bit hot isn’t it?’
Owner: ‘That’s the point.’
Husky: ‘Not really a beach dog myself.’
Owner: ‘We’re going. Bruce get the beers. No shirts required.’
Husky: ‘Have you seen what I’m wearing?’
Owner: ‘Lucy, you’re coming.’
Victor Cobb (1876-1945) spent time as an artist at the National Museum of Australian Zoology
which is reflected in his pencil sketches. This beautifully shaded pup seems to be looking out of the window, waiting, maybe for her master or friends, or just for the rain to stop.
You can browse more of the Library’s canine collection including watercolours, photos, sketches, postcards and much more.
