AKC’s Dog Museum Revival

By Amy Fernandez

AKC’s blueblood heritage hasn’t always been an easy sell. Still, some would say it’s just a matter of the right approach. More to the point, AKC has been sitting on one particular asset that could be doing much of the heavy lifting, namely, the organization’s world-class art collection. No one recognizes that more clearly than AKC’s new Cultural Resources Director, Alan Fausel.

Alan has spent decades in the art biz. You might have seen him on Antiques Roadshow. He says, “We’ll be able to tap into a huge potential audience”. Art lovers…dog lovers, according to his calculations, that potential fanbase add up to 23 million locals on top of 60 million tourists. “Getting our story out there can only help to expand our sport,” says Fausel. And no one can argue about the critical need for expansion.

Even in NYC, the magnitude of AKC’s art stockpile qualifies as pretty awesome.  It comprised a century’s worth of treasures when the original AKC Museum of the Dog opened back in 1981 –before their base camp moved up to the other end of Madison Avenue. Directly across the street from Madison Square Park, the original museum, at the intersection of Madison, Fifth, and Broadway, was ideally situated as an accessible and popular location to draw mainstream dog and art lovers into AKC. The original home of MSG, Madison Square’s reputation as an international entertainment hub was well established long before AKC’s arrival. (Shake Shack hasn’t always been its main claim to fame.)

This prime location did have one serious drawback. It was too small to properly house and display this vast, varied and growing collection, which by then featured hundreds of prints, drawing, photographs, sculptures, paintings, and rare books. Moving most of this loot to St. Louis in 1987 solved the display space and storage problems. It was also quite a hike from everywhere, which basically defeated the purpose of having a museum.

As we all know, AKC marches to its own drumbeat. Now, three decades later, they’ve finally devised an arrangement that combines space, accessibility and, as Alan emphasizes, “a 365 day a year presence” in New York’s global art mecca. He says, “We will be uniting the AKC Museum of the Dog collection, which is out in St. Louis, with the AKC collection here at the offices” and naturally, “some of the best things are here in New York.”

Even so, there’s some pretty dazzling stuff stashed at Queeny Park like Landseer’s iconic Deerhound and some of the finest works by both George Earl and his daughter, Maud. Of course, anyone who’s taken a stroll around 260 Mad knows about the jaw dropping baubles adorning those walls and shelves including Maud Earl’s celebrated St. Bernard picture, I Hear A Voice and Arthur Wardle’s Totteridge Eleven. “I will be able to mix and match things from both collections,” says Alan while noting that the size and scope of

AKC’s Fox Terrier art is quite possibly the finest in the world. That’s just one show he’s planning down the road.

There’s plenty to work with and Alan’s got plans for all of it. He says, “The first six months will be just highlights from the combined collections. Next summer we will go to a quarterly pace.”  He’s got that mapped out for the next three years. The first special exhibit, Women and Dogs in Art, will showcase an inventory of optical delights guaranteed to blow your mind.

It’s not the only timely theme on his agenda.  “I also want to do a smaller show of turn of the century vernacular photography, basically an inside look into how people live with their dogs.  It is very popular with collectors,” he says.  Hey, it’s always popular with this crowd.

And since we are thinking outside the box… Westminster has collided head on with NYC Fashion Week for years…but for some mysterious reason it never occurred to anyone to capitalize on “this great opportunity.” Alan’s concept will explore “the many facets of how dogs have been used in fashion photography as well as a historical rundown of   which breeds were fashionable at different times. So, that’s coming in February 2020.”

He also plans to present The Golden age of Hollywood Dogs.  Fausel says, “We have some gorgeous photos of stars like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and movie posters from classics like Lassie and Old Yeller.”  In the unlikely event that anyone’s forgotten he reminds us that, “2020 is also a presidential election year. We have registrations on file for about a dozen presidential dogs,” in addition to more than enough artwork to fill out that visual fiesta like portraits of Barney and Miss Beasley.

Fausel continues saying, “We’ve also got portraits of about ten Westminster winners. That takes us into 2021 which will kick off with A Day in the Life of a Show Dog.” And if you think you know that topic, just be prepared. Those are a few upcoming exhibits that will offer a glimpse of AKC treasures that are rarely displayed at either location. More importantly, these themes are guaranteed to lure substantial interest from outside the sport.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Alan says, “After we get set up in a year or two we might have pop-up shows to coincide with major shows and other museum events around the country.”  Nor is he overlooking the wealth of outside resources at hand in New York’s cultural nexus. “I am going to approach the Museum of Natural History about something on the science of dogs. That’s just the first three years.”

You have to wonder why AKC didn’t pull this bait out a little sooner. But let’s be realistic, this overdue artistic reorganization comes as part of the big upheaval relocating their current headquarters over to 101 Park at 40^th Street. Location, location , location., they don’t come any better than this. Its right down the street from Grand Central and, in case you haven’t been there, is also an essential tourist attraction. The whole thing is scheduled to open by Westminster, so you can do both (and see your fancier dollars at work!)

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Posted by chesliepickett on Sep 6 2018. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.