Meet the Dogs Playing Poker Paintings

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1844-1934) is an American artist and even if you think you don’t know him, trust us – you do. His works have been sold across international auctions for obscene amounts of money. The paintings in question?

Dogs Playing Poker, of course. Due to these paintings, Coolidge has (somewhat accurately) been called “the most famous artist you’ve never heard of“. While we’d argue has made a huge contribution to the art world, some critics would disagree.

In this article, we’re going to see the most famous poker-related art up close and personal. From its affect in the art world to the waves it made across decades of pop culture.

Dogs Playing Poker – A Series of Paintings

Coolidge first attempted to paint for cigar boxes, but later in 1903, he began working for Brown & Bigelow. There the Coolidge did what is known as “commemorative advertising”. Sometimes his works were produced as posters, prints, and calendars, and sometimes handed out as flyers for promotional events.

Popular paintings of the time included “Poker Sympathy,” “Daring Bluff,” and “Four Aces Sandwich”.

The Most Well-Known Bluffing Dogs

Somewhat surprisingly, Coolidge’s most famous painting was initially titled “Friend in Need“. The title never seemed to stick, as it was (and still is) often confused with “Dogs Playing Poker“, the title of the entire series.

If you look at the picture closely, you’ll see the dogs are playing oblivious to the fact that a pair of bulldogs are passing cards under the table. No one can blame them, after all, the match five against two is unfair from the beginning.

Not All Paintings Show Dogs Playing Poker

While the Dogs Playing Poker” series is comprised of 16 works, only nine of them depict dogs playing poker.

“The Case of the Disturbed Broadcast” depicts a dog on trial, “Higher Education” depicts puppies just playing soccer, and the colorful “New Year’s Eve in Dogsville” depicts holiday tables and lots of dancing dogs.

C.M. Coolidge and His History

Coolidge achieved artistic success even before his poker paintings came to canvas. In 1874, the artist received a patent for a photo booth in which tourists could poke their heads in portraying someone else. The idea was considered a carnival attraction. 

The fame from his paintings came only in his late 60s. The peak of popularity was, of course, due to the “Dogs Playing Poker” series. Reproductions of this collection were widely distributed on posters and calendars across the United States.

At that time, Coolidge managed to sell a couple of his paintings in the range of two to ten thousand dollars.

A Few Artistic Interpretations

As with any work of art, more an more interpretations will appear as time goes by. For a series of paintings created in the 19^th century, there are more than a few.

A trained eye might notice similarities between the “Dogs Playing Poker” series and works by Georges de LaTour, Caravaggio, and Paul Cezanne. These names are often brought up where the inspiration for the series came from.

While we will never have a definitive answer, here we considered the two interpretations we found the most interesting.

Self-Portrait of the Artist Through a Series of Paintings

Coolidge was known as an enterprising fellow. Before he started painting reproductions on calendars, he already had a handful of professions behind him. The artist painted houses and signs, tried his hand as an art teacher, and as a pharmacy worker. Later he founded a newspaper and bank. Hence, his nickname, Cash.

The reason many critics deem the series as a kind of self-portrait, is the argument that the cheating dogs trying everything they can to succeed represent the ambitions of their creator.

Similarities Between Tennessee Williams and Coolidge

Some people argue in favor of similarities between the works of Tennessee Williams, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the Collidge’s series of paintings.

New York Times writer, James McManus comments on the similarity by viewing it as a relationships between sexes, stating: “Men drink, scream, smoke and play poker. The women who serve them… Their game is to tame the bad guys.”

The Personal Effect of “Dogs Playing Poker”

Coolidge grew up in Philadelphia, New York. However, even after his national artistic success, the city of Philadelphia didn’t recognize his work for almost 90 years after the initial release of the paintings.

In 1991, the artist’s daughter, Gertrude Marcella Coolidge decided to take one of the paintings from her collection to her father’s home town. The painting currently hangs in the back of the city library. If you ever come across the one-room museum, ask to see a thin folder with Coolidge-related materials.

In 2002, sometime after donating the painting, Coolidge’s then 92-year-old daughter was interviewed for the New York Times. In the piece, she noted that she and her mother preferred cats.

She also noted that if the dogs were replaced with cats in the paintings, there would be an entirely different atmosphere, something different than what the author wanted to convey.

Critics Never Liked “Dogs Playing Poker”

In the 19^th century, paintings commissioned for business purposes were not considered art. According to Martin Harris (PokerNews), experts have claimed that these paintings would have represented the pinnacle of kitsch and lowbrow culture, a crass caricature of authentic art.

In translation, not something you’d see in an art gallery or pay good money for.

No Matter What, the Paintings Sold for a Lot of Money

While the series wasn’t an instant claim to fame, it found its footing in the second half of the 20^th century. The “Dogs Playing Poker” series peaked in the 1970s, selling in every medium imaginable. Annette Ferrara said:

“These signature works are indelibly imprinted in the subconscious of even the weakest art historian through constant reproduction on calendars, t-shirts, coffee mugs, random advertising, etc.“.

Coolidge’s original painting sold in 1998 at a Sotheby’s Auction for 74,000 dollars. However, this is far from the end of it.

In 2005, the Doyle Auction held in NBY also featured the “Waterloo” and “Daring Bluff” paintings. Even before the auction began, there was debate over how much the paintings would go for, with predictions ranging from 30 to 50 thousand dollars. In the end, an anonymous buyer purchased them for $590,400! The auction senior president, Alan Vosell said:

“A lot of people came to compete for these paintings, and many of them were not our traditional collectors.“.

In t2015, another Coolidge original titled “The Poker Game” went for 658 thousand dollars, breaking the previous record.

The Common Storyline of the Two Paintings

The two paintings that sold in 2015, “Waterloo” and “Daring Bluff”, share a storyline. During the introduction of the paintings, Doyle said,

“The sequential narrative follows the same participants in a poker match. In the first painting, our protagonist, St. Bernard, plays a weak hand while the rest of the team maintains an impenetrable poker face. In the next scene, we see the St. Bernard rake in a big pot, to the obvious disappointment of his fellow players.“

The Final Ruling of the Artistic Elite

Fame and prestige are not synonymous.

For a long time, Coolidge’s work was criticized and even ridiculed by art critics. His most favorable review came in 1934, when the series was characterized as “a lot of paintings with dogs.”

The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk even issued a press release on April 1^st, 2018 stating that an exhibition in honor of “Poker Playing Dogs” would be held. To quote William Hennessy:

“There has long been fierce debate in academic circles about the place of dog art in the canon of art history. I believe that the time has come for these iconic images to take their rightful place within the walls of our museums to counterbalance the long-standing unfair preference for homocentric art.”

After that, it was added: “Happy April 1st! Every word printed above is true, except for the suggestion that Chrysler is actually trying to get these pictures.”