Friday, March 14, 2008

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.

Arthur Sarnoff Sarnof critic painting artist artwork dogs hustler jack ripper sanoff modern illustrator master 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.

Arthur Sarnoff Sarnof critic painting artist artwork dogs hustler jack ripper sanoff modern illustrator master 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.

2 comments:

  1. Love love the painting. My next dog is going to be a Great Dane, I am going to name him "Samson"!!:D

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  2. "Dogs are really people with short legs in fur coats."

    I agree one hundred percent with that. Each one has his or her own distinct personality. :)

    The paintings are excellent! Thanks for posting!

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