If they are man’s best friend, dogs can also be the best model for photographers. Whether they are consenting and staged, as the American William Wegman has endeavored to do with his magnificent Weimaraners throughout his career, or captured in the act of engaging in their various animal activities and their relationship with humans by Vanden Eeckhoudt, co-founder of the VU agency. The two artists share tenderness, humor, and irony that they transpose into this relationship between human and animals. Here, the faithful companion or partner goes beyond the role of human interlocutor to the point of caricaturing them and revealing their behaviors and failings, metaphorical versions of each other.
The Espace culturel Leclerc du Parvis in Pau has chosen to present these two perspectives on the same subject, our canine friend, in the same exhibition. And while the treatment is different in form studio photographs and the aesthetic of color images for Wegman; snapshots and slices of life (of a dog) in black and white for Vanden Eeckhoudt the same dialogue is established between the animal and the human.
The Espace culturel Leclerc du Parvis in Pau has chosen to present these two perspectives on the same subject, our canine friend, in the same exhibition. And while the treatment is different in form – studio photographs and the aesthetic of color images for Wegman; snapshots and slices of life (of a dog) in black and white for Vanden Eeckhoudt – the same dialogue is established between the animal and the human.
Marc Bélit, the venue’s programmer, tells us about the two approaches: “Wegman’s dog is the animal-partner in an artistic approach that includes him. From then on, the complexity of this relationship will continue to deepen, to the point where we come to suppose that the dog has integrated the creative dimension, as if his desire to play with the master made him perfectly aware of the interest of the enterprise, thus creating an unexpected and challenging situation..
The Leica photographer encountered the animal in its entirety due to his particular fascination with zoos. The series on dogs will appear later in a more informal way during his travels and walks. He declared that it was through the dog that he could best photograph the owner. He also said that he did not seek to confront the animal directly, but rather from an angle, in situations that make people smile or that we find funny. But there is always a lot of tenderness in his critical eye. By making people smile, he said, we make them think.”
A disturbing humanity emanates from the dog, which reinforces this obvious complicity, present since the time of homo sapiens. Indeed, it was the first animal to be domesticated by humans. Both hunters, one domesticated the other to aid in its task. The values of sociability, fidelity, and loyalty that humans project within themselves are the fruits of long history and solid companionship.
Jean-Jacques Ader
“Des chiens et des hommes,” a photography exhibition by William Wegman and Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt, is held at the Parvis, Espace culturel Leclerc in Pau (64), from June 19 to November 15, 2025. Free admission.
Information: https://www.leparvispau.com/encemoment
