Study of a dog 1918

Curator: Standing before us is Tadeusz Makowski’s "Study of a Dog," created around 1918 using oil paint. What are your initial impressions? Editor: There’s something unsettling about it. The dog's dark, almost mournful eyes, combined with the chaotic brushstrokes and muddy colors…it feels heavy, like a memory tinged with sadness. Curator: Yes, the textures are intriguing. You can see the visible layering of the oil paint and directionality of the strokes. It looks like Makowski worked quite rapidly to capture a specific emotion, or fleeting image, the dog appears very abstracted. I wonder, what does a dog, rendered this way, symbolize in a period defined by immense global conflict? Editor: Well, dogs have been companions and symbols of loyalty for centuries. But here, it feels less about faithfulness and more about...burden. Look at the hunched posture and those deeply shadowed areas; it mirrors the anxieties of a post-war era. It might symbolize resilience amid despair. Curator: The medium plays a huge role. Makowski chose oil paint, a very durable material with its origins in antiquity, but applied it with quick, Expressionist strokes. Is it possible this evokes both the classical tradition and the breakdown of traditional values through the great mechanization and social unrest that coincided with WWI? Editor: Precisely! Dogs, since ancient Greece, represented guardianship and guidance, yet in "Study of a Dog," that protective imagery is obscured. This painting presents a shattered version of comfort, one weathered by conflict and struggle. I find the application and direction of the strokes evoke feelings of loss. Curator: So, the materiality of oil paint, combined with the subject matter, gives this particular portrait of a dog so much power to comment on both class and status? Editor: I think so. I also think this symbol transcends pure class – perhaps it reflects our collective unconscious at a moment in history when the very concepts of home, protection, and faith were being redefined through turmoil. Curator: What an interesting perspective. I’m seeing and feeling this work differently already. Editor: And I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time, seeing what else the artist's choices reveal to us!