The Dog's Gaze

Luminous ... Laqueur takes us on a wonderfully illustrated tour of dogs in art, from Rembrandt’s etching The Good Samaritan to the Jeff Koons balloon dog, by way of cinema superstar Lassie. His special interest, though, is for those places where dogs are engaged in an act of looking ... by the end of this clever, beautiful book, Laqueur has persuasively made his point that the dog’s function in western art is to provide an entry-point or alter ego for viewers who might otherwise feel overwhelmed or outclassed ... [it is] a brilliant interpretation of their role at heart -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *
In this charming and lavishly illustrated book, Laqueur sets out how to discover what dogs do for the artists and how they do it … The Dog’s Gaze is an enjoyable romp -- Chloe Ashby * The Times *
[Laqueur] handles an enormous timespan with confidence and deftness of touch. The result is a book that is both erudite and entertaining -- Kirsten Tambling * Literary Review *
Acute, elegant, shrewd ... Laqueur's book is many things. Most obviously, it is a series of reflections why artists bother to depict dogs (and hence the purpose of art itself), on what those dog gazes tell us or prompt us to ask, and more broadly on the curious question of why we choose to recruit non-humans to help us be human: why they help us to mourn our dead, for instance, or to mitigate loneliness, or to celebrate. But it is too an extended meditation on the accessibility of other minds, the possibility of relationship, the value of empathy and the utility of multiplying viewpoints in order to get an accurate picture of oneself or anything else. The author's range of references is vast ... his manner is gentle, conversational and understated ... he has the confidence to let the dog's gaze do the work. And it does. -- Charles Foster * Times Literary Supplement *
A work of immensely humane scholarship ... Laqueur wants to tell us why dogs matter, demystifying his subject while respecting its mystique. [His] writing is erudite and expansive in its range of reference and knowledge, but it is addressed not just to a nonexpert audience but to a larger humane mission -- Adam Gopnik * The New Yorker *
As long as canines have been an integral feature of the human world, they have been an integral feature of our artistic world. In The Dog's Gaze, historian Thomas W Laqueur seeks to answer the question of why.... Striking -- Luka Ivan Jukic * Financial Times *
Inspiring, educational, moving, sometimes distressing, this is a riveting visual history of man’s best friend… a fascinating book with stunning illustrations. -- Elisa Segave * Spectator *
Brilliantly wise and engaging ... a thoughtful, erudite account of dogs in art, from prehistoric petroglyphs to Lucien Freud's whippets, William Wegman's photographs of Welmaraners and a yellow dog in a painting by Kerry James Marshall. Most of the great dogs of art history are here, but the book also contains many paintings I didn't know. A magnificent, generous book -- Robert Hanks * Apollo Magazine *
superbly illustrated and beautifully written ... [full of] countless magical and erudite insights ... The Dog's Gaze is the kind of volume you'll return to again and again, learning something new each time. Laqueur guides us through the history of art and the relationship between dogs and humans [with] deep knowledge, energised by the [his] obvious love for our four- legged friends . -- Bel Mooney * Mail on Sunday *
A splendid blend of histories: natural, cultural, and artistic ... The Dog's Gaze is a delight for dog-loving art connoisseurs, and vice versa * Kirkus Reviews *