AKC Gazette Articles
February 2003
SALUKIS IN ART - OR ART IN SALUKIS
Some Saluki owners see their breed as a living work of art. Many Salukis believe
nose prints on the window are ancient hieroglyphics illustrated for our viewing
pleasure, and muddy footprints merely a form of high artistic self expression.
Throughout the ages, Salukis have confirmed sojourns to the Holy Land, appearing
in tapestries with mythical creatures and other symbols of prestige and status.
Early Thoroughbreds, direct descendants of Tribal stallions and British mares,
were painted by Wooten and other equine portraitists with a Saluki in the painting
to validate the desert heritage. Bassano placed Salukis in the parade onto the
Ark and Tintorri invited them to wedding feasts. Veronese painted Salukis extensively
and with great affection.
The earliest known Saluki illustrations
were found in an excavation at Tepe Gawra (c.4000 BC, and a
white/red parti bitch (c. 1490 BC), obviously nursing
a large
litter, illustrates the wall of the tomb of Nebamun tomb. Illustrated manuscripts
of the Mughal era portray Salukis in the hunt. Orientalists such as Rousseau
and Delacroix often included Salukis in their romanticized illustrations
of desert life. Landseer’s Arab Tent (1866) places Salukis in peaceful proximity
to a mare, foal, and monkey, all snuggled into a leopard skin bed. Those who
know their Salukis question Landseer’s portrayal of their breed - what
Saluki could resist tugging at a monkey’s tail, whether live or stuffed?
James Ward’s Saluki or Persian Greyhound (1807) of a red Saluki leaping
in the midst of fiercer companions graces the cover of the Waters’ early
book on the breed: The Saluki in History, Art and Sport, and Giacometti’s
dog lends a more modern impression of a far too lean Saluki. The Borzoi
is illustrated more often in the Art Deco mode but Salukis hold their own,
appearing
at the
heels of flappers and bustled matrons with equal aplomb. In fact, once
your eye is tuned to find the sleek lines, smaller waist and flowing
curves of
a Saluki
will find them in the oddest places. As a graduating exercise in one
of the French art schools, a student drew a haunting portrait
of a youth and
a Saluki,
which
can be found in lucky searches of print booths. Occasionally you might
run across a hood ornament of a leaping Saluki, and note cards abound,
all produced
in limited
quantities by Saluki owning artists.
Salukis attract artists. Their discerning
attitudes and deceptive elegance appeal to independent artistic
souls. What the outside world sees as
aloof elegance,
Saluki people know of as a selective acknowledgment of the world around
them. The Saluki’s ability to lie still for long periods of time,
and be content with bursts of exercise, works perfectly with artists
who lose track
of time
while in the throes of creation. Always, the companion hound finds
its way onto paper, canvas, or into pewter, bronze, silver, and gold,
with
the best
artists
capturing both the structure and essence of this ancient hunting hound.
Of modern illustrators, one of the best known is Robert Loughead, whose
two page National Geographic Magazine spread of Salukis hunting Gazelle
in the desert
has been sold as two pieces or one joined piece, and reproduced many
times over. The original of this stunning work languishes, unfortunately,
in the storage
vaults of National Geographic.
Monica Henderson Stoner
PO Box 2164
West Covina, CA 91793-2164
tsent@ix.netcom.com
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