Passion for Painting Dogs

The highlight of Joseph Sulkowski’s work is an enormous mural reflecting a lifetime of contemplation about art, philosophy and the nature of dogs and humans. COURTESY PHOTO

I have a passion for dog portraiture and sporting art, so when I saw that an exhibit by modern animal portrait and sporting art master Joseph Sulkowski was at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia, I wasn’t disappointed. The exhibit, called Apokalupsis — a Greek word meaning “to lay bare” or “to uncover” — was everything I could have asked for: beautiful art depicting dogs, with an underlying philosophical message.

Sulkowski, who loved leafing through his father’s art books as a child, showed an early talent for drawing and decided at the age of 5 that he wanted to become an artist himself. He studied at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and then went on to a five-year apprenticeship in New York City with Frank Mason, an expert on Old Master principles and techniques.

Sulkowski started out painting portraits of people, but after moving near his wife’s hometown of Nashville, he found that many clients wanted to be painted with their dogs or horses. Soon, animals became his preferred subjects, and he began to focus solely on them. Since then, art and animal connoisseurs from around the world have commissioned him to paint their pets — show and sporting dogs, polo ponies and racehorses — using a style he describes as “poetic realism.”

The shift caused him to delve into animal anatomy so his depictions would be accurate. An understanding of bone structure, musculature, perspective and proportion is essential for credibility, he says.

The 30-plus works in the exhibit are primarily of sporting dogs, foxhounds, beagles and terriers, as well as a boxer and cavaliers. The centerpiece is what Sulkowski calls his masterwork, the culmination of 50 years as an artist. It’s a mural-size painting — also titled “Apokalupsis” — that he describes as an allegory of the connections between all life. In his vision, dogs, whether they are joyous or friendly or angry, act as a metaphor for humanity, expressing both hopefulness and dark passions.

The 8-by-13-foot canvas draws on mythologies, beliefs and senses to evoke the passions that influence our lives and relationships. The portrayals of dogs show the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, greed, lust, anger, gluttony and sloth); the five senses; and the four elements (earth, wind, air and fire).

My favorite depiction is of the three Graces, representing love, beauty and joy — or, as they are called in the original Greek, Aglaia (splendor), Euphrosyne (mirth) and Thalia (good cheer). It’s easy to see those themes in the expressions of the three cavorting foxhounds. For Sulkowski, the Graces represent an idea of unity and wholeness. Conversely, a black hound looking upward toward the light and the Graces symbolizes the desire to bring together the physical and the spiritual, to inspire reverence and compassion for one another.

“We’re all in this together, one way or another,” he says.

Why dogs? According to Sulkowski, “I thought they had as much character in their eyes and their body language and their psyches as any human I’d ever met, and I liked that about them.”

Dogs and humans share certain fears and desires, Sulkowski says. The pack of foxhounds represents various truths, emotions and interactions of existence. The landscape symbolizes the intersection of time and space that all must navigate throughout life.

Whether you appreciate the philosophical underpinnings or simply enjoy classical style art featuring dogs, the exhibit will bring you pleasure. By the time this appears, Apokalupsis will have moved on to the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog, 101 Park Ave., New York City, where it runs through Aug. 4. Check it out! ¦

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