William Wegman

We know William Wegman as a photographer, filmmaker, and painter of many subjects, but none more dominant than his images of his loyal weimaraner dogs. His sometimes comic photos are becoming increasingly popular every year. Wegman was born in Massachusetts and studied at Massachusetts College of Art with a degree in painting. He went on to explore printmaking at the University of Illinois, earning a MFA in 1967. He taught at several universities before beginning to dabble in photography and video. While in California, be acquired his first collaborative partner, a weimaraner dog named Man Ray, named for the artist. Wehamn was working on some video works at this time and Man Ray wanted to get into the frame all the time, so the video became about Man Ray. The rest is history as they say. He got Fay Ray in 1986. She had pups in 1989 and one of her pups had pups in 1995.

With his cast of dogs, Wegman makes serious art that inspires laughter. He is becoming so visible that children are growing up on Wegman art through his collaborative works on Sesame Street. His art not only raises questions about the subject matter in art, but ironically it also raises questions about humanity. The illusion of the person with a dog face is created by building dummy bodies and an assistant is used as the hands, working from behind the body.