William Wegman, Red Detachment, 2006, Polaroid print on paper, 24 ¼ × 20 ¾ inches. 2007 Collectors’ Circle purchase, 2007.33.02.96. © William Wegman. Playing on the strangely human expressions of Weimaraner dogs, Wegman often employs his canine subjects to express a sense of coexisting deadpan humor and seriousness that is sometimes difficult to capture in humans. In this large Polaroid print—a process that uses a room-sized camera to produce a single, direct-contact print—Wegman anthropomorphizes the dog by placing a veil of red over half its profile, further detaching the dignified creature who has already turned its gaze away.
Though many of his iconic images feature the Weimaraners dressed as characters or performing more obviously humanlike actions, Wegman captures a Renaissance-like nobility here while directly referencing the conceptual and minimalist art movements that have influenced the artist since the beginning of his career.
—Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator
