Dog Days — Hannah Stahl
Arianna and Whimsy, oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″, 2022
Cosimo, oil on canvas, 60″ x 48″, 2021
Cody, oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″, 2020
Vicci, oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″, 2022
Salma, oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″, 2019
Walla, oil on canvas, 36″ x 30″, 2018
Winnie, oil on canvas, 24″ x 18″, 2020
Artist Statement
Upon painting my first dog portrait — a wedding gift for a friend — I began receiving an unexpected stream of additional requests and, although I hadn’t planned on it, I became quickly fond of the nature of the work. My subjects, these humble pets, drew me in. From the pristine show dog to the un-manicured mutt, there is a seemingly endless range of qualities. Yet, wherever within the spectrum, from majestic to downright bizarre, all dogs share the same generosity of expression and, although some of us might like to imagine otherwise, they do not pose. They are specifically and un-apologetically themselves. Therefore, my work never aims to idealize or romanticize a dog but simply to capture the animal in all its authenticity.
About the Artist
Born in 1989 in Providence, Rhode Island, Hannah Stahl is an oil painter whose primary focus is commissioned portraiture. Her interest in pursuing a career as an artist began during her undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University, where she was honored with the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award in Studio Art. She used the $25,000 grant, which allowed her to travel for a year upon graduation, to deepen her studies in oil painting while exploring Old Masters’ works in Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin, and London.
On her return to the United States, Hannah Stahl pursued her master’s in fine arts degree at The New York Academy of Art in Tribeca, New York City; during the summer after her first year there, she was granted a position as Resident at The Leipzig International Art Program in Germany. This was Hannah Stahl’s second artist residency, her first being in 2012 at The School of Art at Chautauqua Institution in New York.
After receiving her master’s degree, Hannah Stahl served as adjunct faculty for the Summer Undergraduate Residency Program at The New York Academy of Art. Simultaneously, she began her career in commissioned, representational oil portraits. Though her work is far-ranging, her commissioned dog portraits have garnered considerable interest. Most notably, she was named the winner of the 140th Annual Westminster Dog Show Poster Competition by The Westminster Kennel Club, for her painting of a leaping American Staffordshire terrier. To date, Hannah Stahl has completed more than 140 commissioned works for clients around the world.
Hannah Stahl’s work has been the subject of articles in The Huffington Post, Art New England, and New England Monthly, and has been exhibited at Flowers Gallery, New York City, and The Jamestown Art Center, in Rhode Island, among other galleries in the United States and abroad.
Currently, Hannah Stahl works out of her studio in Providence, Rhode Island.
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