{"id":1771,"date":"2017-02-24T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=1771"},"modified":"2017-02-24T16:48:42","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:18:42","slug":"terror-maltese-terrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2017\/02\/terror-maltese-terrier\/","title":{"rendered":"The terror of the Maltese Terrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of our enduring favourites over here at Wakefield HQ is\u00a0<\/em>Dogs in Australian Art<\/a>.\u00a0Even the cat-lovers agree: it’s a brilliant book. From Ivor Hele’s sketch of a great dane to Lin Onus’s painting of a dingo surfing, there are some real Aussie icons in the mix, and a lot of them have a great sense of humour. The same could be said of Rodney Pople’s\u00a0<\/em>I feel so pretty, so witty\u00a0(2004), and yet, it’s equally likely his painting of a Maltese Terrier will give you nightmares! Steven Miller delves deeper in this extract —<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Maltese<\/a>

Rodney Pople (1952\u2013)
I feel so pretty, so witty, 2004
Image courtesy of the artist<\/p><\/div>\n

The influence which artists have had upon dog welfare, grooming and\u00a0breeding is rarely acknowledged. In the nineteenth century Edwin Landseer\u00a0changed the fashion in Newfoundlands with his painting Distinguished Member of the Humane Society<\/em>. Before this, the Newfoundland had always\u00a0been considered a black dog, but Landseer\u2019s celebrated image brought dogs\u00a0with black and white colouring into vogue, and even today Newfoundlands\u00a0with this colouring are known as \u2018Landseers\u2019. More important were his\u00a0efforts on behalf of the Maltese Terrier. This breed became so rare that Landseer\u00a0painted a portrait of one entitled The Lion Dog from Malta \u2013 The Last of\u00a0His Race<\/em>. This had the effect of encouraging British breeders to import and\u00a0promote the dog. It has not looked back since. One of the most influential dog\u00a0books from the nineteenth century even proclaimed, \u2018of all the canine pets\u00a0this breed is the most lovable, being extremely animated and sagacious,\u00a0full of natural tricks, and perfectly free from the defects of the spaniel, viz.,\u00a0snoring and an offensive breath\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Maltese<\/a>

James Guppy (1954\u2013)
Between us, 1991
Image courtesy of the artist<\/p><\/div>\n

The Maltese Terrier included in these paintings by James Guppy\u00a0belonged to his mother-in-law. She had three of them and they often featured\u00a0in his work. He even used them as models for a fierce Cerberus, the threeheaded\u00a0dog that guards Hades. Guppy\u2019s art is rich with symbolism and this\u00a0work is no exception. The narrative suggested in the work developed from a\u00a0series of photographs taken by the artist of his wife, a friend and his mother-in-law\u2019s dogs. It clearly deals with the difficult spaces between people and\u00a0what binds them together. Many elements in the work signal separation\u00a0and, between individuals, it seems to suggest, there exists a great divide.\u00a0Even the canvas is divided into two panels. However, a painted horse in\u00a0the background, which introduces an apocalyptic intensity to the painting,\u00a0and a Maltese dog in the foreground manage to bridge both worlds. In art\u00a0horses have traditionally been used to denote unbridled passion and dogs,\u00a0fidelity. The red horse here contrasts with the detached and cool couple, but\u00a0at the same time it also connects them. The dog also bridges both halves,\u00a0but points in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

For more about Steven Miller’s<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Dogs in Australian Art, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our enduring favourites over here at Wakefield HQ is\u00a0Dogs in Australian Art.\u00a0Even the cat-lovers agree: it’s a brilliant book. From Ivor Hele’s sketch of a great dane to Lin Onus’s painting of a dingo surfing, there are some … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[184,603,604,601,602,600],"class_list":["post-1771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extract","tag-dogs-in-australian-art","tag-edwin-landseer","tag-james-guppy","tag-maltese-terrier","tag-rodney-pople","tag-steven-miller"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-sz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1944,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771\/revisions\/1944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}