Skip to main contentBiographyOne of America’s most commercially successful and popular artists, William Wegman (born 1943) began his art career with rarefied conceptual videos. But since the early 1970s, when he began his collaboration with Weimaraners, his work has touched the hearts of young and old alike with its wry sense of humor and clever antics.
Wegman was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, in 1965, followed two years later by a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After two years teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Wegman moved to southern California, where he taught at California State College, Long Beach, for a year. His life, however, was transformed in 1972 when he acquired a Weimaraner, whom he called Man Ray, a name that came to Wegman in the middle of the night. Serendipitously, the dog’s namesake was the noted conceptual artist and avant-garde photographer who was a major contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements. Since 1972, Wegman has maintained a studio in New York and spent summers in Rangeley, Maine.
Wegman and Man Ray had a fruitful collaboration that lasted eleven years; the artist called the dog his “art partner.” They were inseparable, creating photographs, drawings, and videos. Best known are the intensely colorful photographs—at first color dye transfer and later large-format Polaroids—that show Man Ray’s sleek body in eye-catching poses. Wegman described his model: “The young Man Ray was brainy, full of games, a real character. As he got older, as we continued our work, his stature grew and he commanded the page with a presence even I couldn’t diminish. Whether covered in fabric, painted with makeup, dusted with flour, wrapped in tinsel, flippered, horned, or turned upside down, Ray was still Ray. Still the man.” [1] As a Weimaraner, Man Ray was eager to work and to please; what he craved most was attention and affection. He was duly rewarded.
After Man Ray’s death, Wegman waited four years before he bought another Weimaraner. In the interlude, he returned to painting and was included in the 1989 Whitney Biennial. Following a lecture at Memphis State University, he was taken to a breeder’s house, and there he met the irresistible Fay Ray. Thus began another collaboration, which grew to include three pups from her litter, and then four more from subsequent generations. With this cast of willing characters, Wegman was able to create segments for the ever popular Sesame Street, making letters and dressing the dogs like Muppets with human hands. He has also reinterpreted for children’s books such classic fairy tales as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood and conceived a video, The Hardly Boys, an adventure tale set in Maine.
Wegman felt he could do things with his canines that he could not do with human models. For one thing, people are less willing to dress up in ludicrous outfits, and are less patient. Also, his audience is far more receptive to the engaging appeal of his dogs.
Notes:
[1] Wegman, Fay (New York: Hyperion, 1999), 31.
William Wegman
born 1943
Wegman was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, in 1965, followed two years later by a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After two years teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Wegman moved to southern California, where he taught at California State College, Long Beach, for a year. His life, however, was transformed in 1972 when he acquired a Weimaraner, whom he called Man Ray, a name that came to Wegman in the middle of the night. Serendipitously, the dog’s namesake was the noted conceptual artist and avant-garde photographer who was a major contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements. Since 1972, Wegman has maintained a studio in New York and spent summers in Rangeley, Maine.
Wegman and Man Ray had a fruitful collaboration that lasted eleven years; the artist called the dog his “art partner.” They were inseparable, creating photographs, drawings, and videos. Best known are the intensely colorful photographs—at first color dye transfer and later large-format Polaroids—that show Man Ray’s sleek body in eye-catching poses. Wegman described his model: “The young Man Ray was brainy, full of games, a real character. As he got older, as we continued our work, his stature grew and he commanded the page with a presence even I couldn’t diminish. Whether covered in fabric, painted with makeup, dusted with flour, wrapped in tinsel, flippered, horned, or turned upside down, Ray was still Ray. Still the man.” [1] As a Weimaraner, Man Ray was eager to work and to please; what he craved most was attention and affection. He was duly rewarded.
After Man Ray’s death, Wegman waited four years before he bought another Weimaraner. In the interlude, he returned to painting and was included in the 1989 Whitney Biennial. Following a lecture at Memphis State University, he was taken to a breeder’s house, and there he met the irresistible Fay Ray. Thus began another collaboration, which grew to include three pups from her litter, and then four more from subsequent generations. With this cast of willing characters, Wegman was able to create segments for the ever popular Sesame Street, making letters and dressing the dogs like Muppets with human hands. He has also reinterpreted for children’s books such classic fairy tales as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood and conceived a video, The Hardly Boys, an adventure tale set in Maine.
Wegman felt he could do things with his canines that he could not do with human models. For one thing, people are less willing to dress up in ludicrous outfits, and are less patient. Also, his audience is far more receptive to the engaging appeal of his dogs.
Notes:
[1] Wegman, Fay (New York: Hyperion, 1999), 31.
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