Arthur Sarnoff – Modern Master

“Dogs are really people with short legs in fur coats” – Author Unknown

Arthur Sarnoff is an American illustrator who is popular for his paintings of dogs playing pool. He was born in 1912 in Brooklyn, New York and studied at the Industrial School and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. He died in 2000.

The Hustler

Most of the artwork of Arthur Sarnoff includes commercial illustrations and covers for magazines such as ‘The American Weekly’, ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Women’s Home Companion’. His art also appeared in advertising campaigns of the time such as that of Lucky Strike, Coors, Camay, Listerine and Vicks Vapo Rub. Here are some of Arthur Sarnoff’s illustrations.

Arthur Sarnoff painted a few paintings too. One of his paintings showing dogs playing pool known as ‘The Hustler’ was one of the best-selling prints in the 1950’s. Another popular painting created by Arthur Sarnoff is “Jack the Ripper”. This painting shows dogs playing pocket billiards and is one of his most recognised paintings.

Hey! One Leg On The Floor

I like Arthur Sarnoff’s paintings because of the expressions on the dog’s faces and the way he has selected each breed to represent a certain type of person. Plus, the dogs are cute!! An earlier artist who created paintings about dogs is C.W. Coolidge. I’ll have more about him in my next post.