Diana Thorne
Great Dane
1944

Name: Great Dane
Brand: Diana Thorne
Price: 350 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Diana Thorne’s Dogs: An Album of Drawings. Diana Thorne. Julian Messner, Inc. New York, 1944. 24 Drawings in Lithography. “In drawing them,” she writes, “I have tried to make them live and breathe and to put into each study that Nameless Something that is truly the essence of the dog’s character.” As an illustrator specializing in depicting dogs, Diana Thorne certainly captured not only the specifics of each breed, but also the personality of each individual dog she drew. In coming to know her subject in both the academic sense and the personal, she was able to compose a portrait of the dog that at once was a distinguished tribute to the breed as well as an ode to that individual dog’s sense of life. Of Russian descent, Diana, as an art student in Berlin, was detained in by the German government during the outbreak of the First World War as a hostile alien. She managed to escape and traveled to Britain where she, by her own wits, became a writer and reporter. It was then that she also tried her hand as an illustrator. Finding her way to the first Canada and then United States, Diana threw her impressive writing and drawing skills into producing children’s books. Of course, each story involved animals which honed her ability to create life-like portraits of dogs, cats and birds. As an avid canine lover, Diana Thorne became well recognized for her illustrations of dogs. Her most famous commission was a Scottie, “Fala”, belonging to FDR. Always active in perfecting her craft, Diana began to experiment with etching and engraving in the 20’s. She also turned her well-developed eye to family sports. As with many of her dog portraits, she would put many different angles of the same scene on each page. Cleveland, Chicago, Boston and New York are just a few of the cities in which her art was shown.

Creator:

Diana Thorne (1895 - 1963, Russian)

Creation Year:

1944

Dimensions:

Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 19 in (48.26 cm)Depth: 1.25 in (3.18 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

1940-1949

Condition:

Beautiful example of offset lithography. Framed to museum specifications using archival matting, backing and hinging. Glazed with ultra-violet filtering Plexiglas.

Gallery Location:

Florham Park, NJ

Reference Number:

Seller: 2015 03-04-151stDibs: LU652280302

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