User:Dogpainting

William Secord is currently the President of William Secord Gallery, Inc. [] in New York City. The gallery specializes in fine 19th and early 20th century animal paintings, with dog paintings a specialty.

With a background in art history and arts administration (B.A. with Honors in Art History, Carleton University; M.A. Arts Administration, New York University), Secord worked at the Museum of American Folk Art before embarking on his career in dog and animal art. In 1981 he became the first director of The Dog Museum of America in New York City, where he mounted an extensive series of thematic exhibitions. When the Museum relocated in St. Louis in 1986, Secord started his own art business and in 1990 opened a commercial gallery at 52 East 76th Street in Manhattan. The author of many articles on the subject of the dog in art, Secord also wrote Dog Painting, 1840-1940, A Social History of the Dog in Art. With 350 pages and some 450 illustrations, the foreword was written by the late Mrs. Vincent Astor. First published in August of 1992 it is now in its sixth edition. In 1996 Secord curated a major exhibition of dog paintings for Brain Trust, Inc., with loans from many private collections as well as The Victoria and Albert Museum and The National Portrait Gallery in London. The exhibition traveled to museums in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Secord is the author of Dog Painting, The European Breeds,  his second book for The Antique Collectors' Club, published in 2000. His third book on nineteenth century dog painting A Breed Apart; Selections from The Collections of The American Kennel Club and The American Kennel Club Museum of The Dog, was published in 2001. Secord co-authored Best in Show, The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to the Present, a catalogue published by Yale University Press. Secord's latest book The American Dog at Home, The Dog Portraits of Christine Merrill, features 33 of Merrill's clients whom Secord interviewed from around the country, photographing them with their dogs and their collections. Collectors include conductor Leon Fleisher, interior designer Bruce Bierman and best-selling author Barbara Taylor Bradford.

An acknowledged expert in the field, Secord has lectured extensively on dog painting, most recently giving the annual Paul Mellonhonors and awards lecture on Sporting Art for the Friends of British Sporting Art in London. He has lectured at The Dog Museum; The Kennel Club, London; Sotheby’s; the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. He is active in many dog and animal-related charities, having been on the national Board of Directors of The ASPCA from 1997 to 2008. He is a member of The Kennel Club, London, The Morris and Essex Kennel Club in New Jersey, and a Life Member of The British Sporting Art Trust.

He is the author of the best-selling A Dog Painting, 1840-1940, a Social History of The Dog in Art, as well as three other books on nineteenth century dog paintings "Dog Painting, The European Breeds"; "A Breed Apart, The Art Collections of The American Kennel Club and The American Kennel Club Museum of The Dog"; and “Dog Painting, A History of The Dog in Art”. ______________________ The gallery features an extensive collection of nineteenth century dog and animal paintings, bronzes and works on paper. Works by such artists as Richard Ansdell, Thomas Blinks, Rosa Bonheur, Lilian Cheviot, Alfred de Dreux, Alfred Duke, George Earl, Maud Earl, Thomas Earl, John Emms, George Henry Harlow, Mabel Hollams, Sir Edwin Landseer, Michael Lyne, Edwin Megargee, Sir Alfred Munnings, Gustav Muss-Arnolt, Edmund Henry Osthaus, Charles Olivier de Penne, Alexander Pope, Percival Rosseau and Arthur Wardle, among others; works on paper by Bert Cobb, Gladys Emerson Cook, Lucy Dawson, Morgan Dennis, Herbert Dicksee and Marguerite Kirmse, bronzes by Richard Fath and Pierre Jules Méne.

While initially known for its antique dog paintings, the gallery has branched out to the contemporary market. "Up until recently," William Secord states, "it was almost impossible to find an artist who was capable of capturing on canvas the true nature of our pets." This is no longer the case, for the gallery now represents the work of three living artists who are modern masters of the genre: Pamela Hall, Christine Merrill, Bruce Padgett, Constance Payne and Charlotte Sorré.