Cassius Marcellus Coolidge painted Dogs Playing Poker in the early 1900’s and ever since we have had a fascination with them. It wasn’t one painting, but a series of paintings he did. According to Wikipedia, ‘Coolidge created a series of sixteenn oil paintings for the advertising firm Brown & Bigelow, all of which featured anthropomorphic dogs, including nine paintings of Dogs Playing Poker, a motif that Coolidge is credited with inventing.” Since then, there has been a never ending imitations and imaginations of this poker table scene.
One of the most famous images that he painted was ‘A friend in need’. In this now notorious image you can see a group of seven dogs playing cards. The two dogs in the foreground of the painting can be seen cheating at the poker table. A dog is passing a card under the table with his left paw. It’s unclear if the other dogs in the poker game can tell what’s happening. Some seem to have a sense of fowl play. One thing that is worth noticing, is that the two dogs are both smaller in size that the others at the table. Perhaps a subliminal link to the ‘underdog’ mentality.
The style created by Coolidge has been imitated many times over in pop culture. From Star Wars to Marvel comics, mainstream video games, and many more. We can only name and list a few. Here are a few of our favorites.
Hope you enjoyed this look at dogs playing poker.