Mutt of the Month

When Jamie Wyeth's pet Labrador Kleberg got too close to the artist's current painting, Jamie painted a ring round Kleberg's eye as a joke, prompted by his recollection of Pete the Pup from an old series of short comedy films "Our Gang" or "The Little Rascals". Visitors to Jamie's farm/studio were so amused by the unusual marking that he kept retouching it using moustache dye, which lasted about a month. The above Study of Kleberg (1984) - one of a series of 12 - comes up for auction at Christie's in New York on 3 March, estimated value $40,000 to $60,000 (title link).