CONSTANCE COLEMAN’S TIBETAN JOURNEY
 

October 16, 2008  -  November 22, 2008
 

The Dogs and Animals of Tibet
 

William Secord Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings and pastels by the renowned American dog and animal painter, Constance Coleman. Included will be over 40 oil paintings, pastels and drawings of dogs and animals, all of which she encountered on her trip to Tibet in the fall of 2007.

Coleman is one of America’s finest animal artists and her dog portraits are represented in some of America’s most prestigious private collections, as well as in the American Kennel Club Museum of The Dog in Saint Louis. Known for her colorful, expressive portraits of dogs, this exhibition portrays a wide range of Tibetan dogs in their native country, posed in doorways, guarding a family’s possessions or posing in front of Tibet’s brightly colored buildings.

Coleman made her first trip to Tibet in 2006, returning in 2007, to a land that she found utterly compelling. “Tibetans are such lovely, serene, calm human beings,” she says, and “this is reflected in their relationship with their animals.”

Included in the exhibition are paintings of such native breeds as the Tibetan Mastiff, Tibetan Terrier and Tibetan Spaniel, but the artist also includes many charming portraits of dogs of more mixed origins - a Pomeranian type bedecked with a brilliant red collar, sitting in front of brightly hued flowers, or a small long-haired temple dog smiling amidst a field of pink roses. Nor does Coleman limit her attention to just dogs, for this exhibition also includes endearing portraits of yaks, sheep and horses, often decorated with colored ribbons and flowers.

Broadly painted and brilliantly hued, Coleman’s paintings are an artistic tribute to her love of Tibet, its people and their animal companions.