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’. Â In this now notorious image you can see a group of seven dogs playing cards. Â 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. Â It’s unclear if the other dogs in the poker game can tell what’s happening. Â Some seem to have a sense of fowl play. Â One thing that is worth noticing, is that the two dogs are both smaller in size that the others at the table. Â Perhaps a subliminal link to the ‘underdog’ mentality.
The style created by Coolidge has been imitated many times over in pop culture. Â From Star Wars to Marvel comics, mainstream video games, and many more. Â We can only name and list a few. Here are a few of our favorites.
Hope you enjoyed this look at dogs playing poker.
