Quotable Talk | Thomas W. Laqueur

Thomas W. Laqueur argues that dogs appear in Western picture-making more often than any other animal, and seldom by accident. In The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History, Laqueur shows painted dogs doing real work. They hold a narrative together, carry moral weight and often look out of the frame as witnesses for the artist. Laqueur is a Berkeley cultural historian, now Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, and a winner of the Cundill History Prize. His survey runs from Paleolithic images through Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt and Goya to Winslow Homer, Lucian Freud, William Wegman, Kerry James Marshall and Jeff Koons. Laqueur, whose earlier books include Making Sex, speaks at Sarasota Art Museum in its Quotable speaker series.