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This just in: Two of C.M. Coolidge’s “dogs playing poker” paintings have sold at a New York auction for $590,400. Which is a record–but if anything, it seems low to me in relation to their significance. (And I’m sorry I didn’t know about the auction, since I happen to be in the Big Apple at the moment.)
CNN has a nice story on the sale and on Coolidge’s work in general. (Among other things, the article reveals that he also invented those “life-size Boardwalk cutouts into which one’s head is placed, allowing the person to be photographed as a character or animal.”)
I’ll probably never own a Coolidge original, but I’m tickled to say that I do have two vintage calendars with his prints–which is how his work was intended to be displayed. (In one, the dogs are shooting craps; in the other, “Staying Up With a Sick Friend,” their wives are busting into their party.) I have these nicely framed and on the wall, and they’re one of the best presents that my Aunt Liz (or anyone) has ever given me.