Description
This is a vintage lithograph done from a 1903 Painting done by C.M. Collidge. The frame size is 17.5 x 21.5". The lithograph itself is 11 .75 x 17.75". It is in nice condition. These are perfect pieces for a Bar or Pub. Great for a man cave. This piece has a large wooden frame and the print is called "Sitting up with a Sick Friend". The subject is fantastic and unique. The colors are bright and vivid. Years ago, I purchased a similar set of these prints for my son while he was in college. When he set up his new home again 2 years ago, all of the dog pictures went into his bar. These are very neat pieces and very popular. These prints are all in great condition with no tears or damage. Collidge died in 1934. The group of these lithographs that I am listing were purchased from an Estate Sale where the owner had purchased them back in the 1960’s
Born in 1844, C.M. Collidge was born. He was commissioned by the Firm of Brown & Bigelow, to create 16 paintings fo dogs in various human-like situations. Nine of the paintings depicted dogs around a crd table; two of them were offered at auction in 2005 in New York, and the pair of "A bold Bluff" and "Waterloo"- sold for $590.400 to a collector.
According to the advertising firm Brown & Bigelow, then primarily a producer of advertising calendars, Coolidge began his relationship with the firm in 1903. From the mid-1900s to the mid-1910s, Coolidge created a series of sixteen oil paintings for them, all of which featured anthropomorphic dogs, including nine paintings of Dogs Playing Poker, a motif that Coolidge is credited with inventing.
The series of 16 commissioned paintings and their themes are:
A Bachelor’s Dog – reading the mail
A Bold Bluff – poker
Breach of Promise Suit – testifying in court
A Friend in Need – poker, cheating
His Station and Four Aces – poker
New Year’s Eve in Dogville – ballroom dancing
One to Tie Two to Win – baseball
Pinched with Four Aces – poker, illegal gambling
Poker Sympathy – poker
Post Mortem – poker, camaraderie
The Reunion – smoking and drinking, camaraderie
Riding the Goat – Masonic initiation
Sitting up with a Sick Friend – poker, gender relations
Stranger in Camp – poker, camping
Ten Miles to a Garage – travel, car trouble, teamwork
Waterloo – poker
On February 15, 2006, two Coolidge paintings, A Bold Bluff and Waterloo, which may have been the originals of the paintings used by Brown & Bigelow, went on the auction block at Doyle New York. Expected to fetch between $30,000 and $50,000, the pair sold for $590,400. The result surpassed the previous auction record of $74,000 for a Coolidge.
Coolidge’s 1894 Poker Game realized $658,000 at a Sotheby’s New York sale on 18 November 2015.
