Years ago I bought an old book “Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology” by Norman Douglas. I was going through some of my books today and checking their value on Amazon, out of curiosity. The book was published in 1929. To my surprise a few copies are available for $165 to $400 via Amazon.
Regardless, there is a poem by Leonidas of Tarentum to which I thought you could relate. I like it.
Teddy Moritz emailed the above note to Steve who wanted it on the blog.
The “First Time Around” painting* is by the great Bob Kuhn. I consider it the best sporting painting ever done. The story it tells is perfect. The boy is vibrating with excitement on his first hunt with a Christmas gun while his father extends his hand to manage that excitement. The boy’s gaze is laser focused on the cottontail about to appear from behind the rock wall. The hounds cascading over the wall show the frenetic action of the moment with ears flapping, tongues lolling, and the leader baying mist in the freezing air. All these elements are served by the loop design to lead the eye around to the beginning with the boy.
Kuhn lived in Connecticut at the time so this scene was common then with old fields, rock walls, and a white oak in the background. I love the low winter sun casting tree shadows on the new snow, a great touch. It may be a memory he had with his son.
The painting was done in mid 60’s as one of several series Kuhn did for Remington arms. It was some of the last commercial work Kuhn did before turning to easel art. Kuhn was the best illustrator for the hook and bullet mags from the 40s to 60s. Kuhn loved hounds and hunting with them. He did the best hound art l have ever seen. After Kuhn left commercial art he focused on wildlife vs hunting. It is too bad, as he went on to become one of the three giants of big game art, Kuhnert, Rungius and Kuhn.
The image was offered as a promotional print by Remington. They are still easy to find. I have a slightly larger version of it framed. It is much rarer and l do not know its history. Sporting Classics sold a version of the print for a while, too. I don’t know if they made a new copy of the print, or not. I was in the Remington Arms Museum in N.Y., 20 years ago. There were some great pieces there but l can’t remember if this one was there. I should check my files. Since Remington is gone, or nearly so, l wonder if the art is gone, too.
*if this had circled through dealers for a few years it would have morphed into, “Dogs Chasing Something.” It is too bad art titles are forgotten and abused.
I wonder if falconry scenes were ever part of his art?
Not that I have seen.