The American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog is hosting an exhibit called “The Dogs Came Dancing,” which takes a closer look at the dog’s place in early America, including a look at dogs in Native American culture.
The exhibit, which features paintings, sculptures, and figurines, was organized by curator Patti J. Wright, Ph.D. of the department of anthropology at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. A highlight of the exhibit, Wright says, is a display of Colima dog vessels, which are clay models that represent the famous Xoloitzcuintli, the rare and virtually hairless dogs that were thought to have provided companionship to people in pre-Hispanic Latin America.
The AKC Museum of the Dog, located in St. Louis, Mo., displays over 700 original paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, sculptures, bronzes, and porcelain figurines that depict man’s best friend throughout the ages.
Works on permanent display include John Henry Frederick Bacon’s “Maud, Daughter of Colonel Temple with her two Schipperkes” and Sir Edwin Landseer’s “Deerhound and Recumbent Foxhound.”
“The Dogs Came Dancing” ends its run at the AKC Museum of the Dog on October 14, 2007. For more information, visit www.museumofthedog.org.