We want to dedicate this week to animals in art.

Today we want to talk about Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius

Marcellus Coolidge. It is noy commonly known but Coolidge realized 18 of this oil painting between the
1894 and 1910, all of which featured anthropomorphic dogs (9 of this with dogs playing poker) according to
the advertising firm Brown & Bigelow. All eighteen of these paintings feature comical, humanized dogs;
however, only eleven of the paintings actually depict poker-faced pups playing cards around a table. With
their expressive faces, smoker pipes, and whiskey glasses, Coolidge’s poker dogs have become iconic. So
much so that they have been referenced in popular TV shows, copied and parodied countless times, and
have even become popular kitsch motifs for t-shirts, coffee mugs, and home decor. Furthermore, Coolidge’s
first painting, Poker Game (1894), was recently sold for $658,000 at a Sotheby’s New York sale on
November 18, 2015.

The Story Behind the "Dogs Playing Poker" Painting (mymodernmet.com)