Book Review: “Museum of Dogs: A Romp Through Art History For Dog People”
Thank you to my neighborhood paper, The Southeast Examiner, for publishing a review of “Museum of Dogs”! Read the piece below, or read it on the paper’s website.
By David Krogh
The subtitle for the book “Museum of Dogs” describes its contents. However, you don’t have to be a dog person or even a dog owner to appreciate the value and interest of this book. The publisher, Chronicle Books, describes this book as “quirky and fascinating, collecting the best canines in art history” including figurines and paintings from several different museums around the world. Among the many items illustrated within is a Greek bronze dog statuette chewing on a bone from the second century BC. There is an illustration of an etching of a sleeping dog done in 1640 by the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. There is even a photo of a German bronze inkstand of a scratching dog created about 1530-1550. And there are many more dog items included from as far back as 3,000 years ago to as recent as the 1900’s.
The author, Jessica Poundstone, lives with her family and her Chihuahua/Pug Stanley in SE Portland. Her work has included art, writing and editing, but she currently works as an abstract artist. “My work explores the way art affects us emotionally, combining color, structure and softness to create a space for contemplation, comfort and connection.” Her art business and paintings/prints are further described at her website, jessicapoundstone.com.
Poundstone’s love of dogs, her interest in art history and her familiarity with Chronicle Books all helped provide the motivation for developing this book. Surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to find many different examples of dog art out there. “I wanted to include many dog artifacts—pieces that represented the ancient connection between humans and dogs. I think we are more used to seeing paintings of dogs, so I wanted the images in this book to be more fresh and surprising. I also wanted to only include images where dogs were the main character. It was not at all hard to find images that fit the bill! The harder part was narrowing them down.”
What is especially complimentary about this book is not only the quality of the illustrations but also the information for each, including (if known) the artist, date of creation, location and description of the item/painting. A section in the rear of the book includes additional notes for several of the items and another section lists image credits. According to Poundstone, all the images within the book “were free to use via museums’ public domain/open content designations.” In return, she provided each museum with information about the image use and included a copy of an E-Book version for their reference purpose.
The images are not in any specific order. Thus, the reader will be looking at different types of imagery from different art history ages with every page. “But the book is not meant to be deep in art history, nor is it meant to be an in depth history of dogs,” says Poundstone. “There are other books that do those things quite well. In this book, I’m hoping to delight people with images of dogs they may have never seen before, and to remind us all that every piece of art has many stories behind it. And oftentimes those stories are wonderful: charming, funny and heartwarming. Art and art history don’t need to be dry, academic or boring.” In addition, according to Poundstone there are only three American artists included within the book. “I wanted to represent as many cultures as possible with images of dogs that felt like they should be ‘part of the pack’ I was creating. North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa are all represented in the book.”
Poundstone concluded saying, “This is my first book published with an independent publisher; I have self-published books in the past. I love dogs, I love art and I love research, so this was really a dream project.” She also indicated she would like to do another book sometime in the near future.
Poundstone has already participated in several events for her book and more will be announced. For additional information about events, the book, the author or to order the book online, visit museumofdogsbook.com. Books can also be purchased through the publisher’s website, chroniclebooks.com, and is available at several local booksellers, including Literary Arts Bookstore and Powell’s Books, both in SE.
Author Poundstone and Stanley. Photo by Christopher Dibble.
