New York Gallery Opens 'Dog Days of Summer,' a 60-Piece Tribute to Man's Best Friend

A Gallery Full of Dogs, No Politics Required

The Timothy Taylor Gallery in New York is currently showing "Dog Days of Summer," a group exhibition dedicated entirely to dogs in art. The show features more than 60 works by 47 artists, according to a gallery statement.

The pieces span from 1915 to the present day. That's more than a century of artists finding new ways to paint, photograph, draw, print and sculpt the same subject: the family dog.

The artist list mixes big names with newer ones. Grandma Moses and Robert Mapplethorpe are on view alongside contemporary painters like Hilary Pecis and Justin Liam O'Brien, according to the gallery.

What's on the Walls

Hilary Pecis contributed a painting of a small chihuahua perched on a decorative pillow. Sean Landers painted a yellow lab staring out against an ocean backdrop. William Wegman, the photographer famous for decades of whimsical portraits of his own Weimaraners, has a 1989 piece titled "Look" in the show.

Justin Liam O'Brien's contribution, "Hungry Borzoi" (2024), shows a long-muzzled dog eyeing a cherry sitting on a nearby plate. It's a small, funny detail in a show built on small, funny details.

The gallery's own statement leans into the history here, noting that dogs have shown up in the work of Titian, Jan van Eyck, John Singer Sargent and Gustave Courbet. Pablo Picasso reportedly had a dachshund named Lump that he featured in his own art, and William Wegman built much of his photographic career around his Weimaraners.

Critical Reception

Hyperallergic's Rhea Nayyar reviewed the show and didn't hide her enthusiasm. "There are two things in this world that I love above all else: every single dog on earth, and summertime," Nayyar wrote, adding that "nothing short of an unexpected volcano eruption could have stopped me from beelining to 'Dog Days of Summer.'"

Nayyar also praised the range on display, writing that the show captures "humor and adoration, fidelity and companionship, beauty and form, and an unfettered appreciation for canine quirks" across its salon-style hang.

The gallery frames the exhibition as tracking a kind of shared evolution between people and their dogs, both in daily life and in how artists have chosen to record it. The statement points out that dogs have functioned as studio companions for artists across generations, calling out Wegman's Weimaraners specifically as an example of a working artist's daily creative partner.

The Exhibition

The show has no hidden agenda or political subtext. It's a gallery putting more than 60 pieces of dog art on the wall because dogs have been a constant subject in art for thousands of years, going back to Egyptian frescoes and Aztec depictions of the xoloitzcuintli.

One practical detail worth knowing if you're in New York: dogs are welcome to accompany their owners to see the show in person, according to the gallery.