MODERN MUTTS
The traditional pet portraiture of a frolicking puppy in daffodils or a Yorkshire Terrier in a teacup may have been good for your gran, but is hardly an image of design modernity in today’s less-is-more times. Enter Swedish friends Emil Tiismann and Jan van Helleputte, whose fine art prints strike the delicate balance between sweet and sophisticated.
The duo founded their online shop, Animalist, in 2018 to “both capture the unique characteristics of each dog breed while remaining minimalistic and decorative.” The first artwork was of Tiismann‘s Staffordshire terrier, Peanut. To celebrate his furry friend’s first birthday (and the fact she’d finally stopped eating his shoes), he created a single stroke illustration. This original line output and a second mosaic style make the basis of their portraits, which loving humans can customise. Tiismann tells us they’re currently exploring new motifs for the 60 breeds on offer and a third design is on the way. Illo or mosaic, pug or mutt, every piece is printed on paper from the 420-year-old German company Hahnemüehle—“the best fine art paper there is.”
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All images courtesy of Animalist
animalist.art
CELEBRATING FIVE YEARS
A heartfelt thank you to all the photographers, artists, illustrators, and writers who trusted us, dived in, and brought us delight, grace, excitement, courage, wilderness, and wonder over the last five years. Their work not only reflects the bonds we share with our animal companions, it also celebrates their spirit.
None of this would be possible without our four-legged counterparts who sprinkle magic dust time and time again, and our readers, who embraced this kooky idea, rallied around us, and made this world theirs too. With friends like these, who needs nine lives?
February 5, 2019
THE DOG’S CORNER
D0gh0use at Newrybar Merchants: a tiny place with a big (dog) heart.
April 23, 2020
MAKING THE SQUAD
Sighthound Squad creates vibrant vegan accessories to support your pack through all kinds of weather.
April 16, 2020
TOGO
He may not have a statue in Central Park devoted to him like Balto does, but Togo was the unsung hero husky of the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska. Togo, a film starring Willem Dafoe, is here to tell his story. While Balto and his team ran the final leg of the run transporting diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Togo led his team through the longest and most hazardous leg of the journey, covering 264 miles (Balto ran 55). He navigated his fellow sled dogs and their musher Leonhard Seppala (played by Dafoe) through white-out storms, over a mountain and across the perilous exposed ice of Norton Sound. You can watch Togo on Disney+.
Click here to watch video
April 7, 2020
LETTERING AT PLAY
Illustrator Cielle Graham forms the alphabet through the twists and turns of dogs chasing a ball.
March 28, 2020
SILENCE, PLEASE
Martin Usborne explores the frailty of the human condition in The Silence of Dogs in Cars, now updated and published by Hoxton Mini Press.
February 28, 2020
TOUGH LOVE
Wild One’s toy kit satisfies the chewers, tuggers and runners with playthings for every recreational whim.
February 19, 2020
STREET LIFE
Animal activist Robert Altermoser shows the sweeter side of displaced dogs in Everydaystray.
February 11, 2020
