1960's Dirty Dogs of Paris by Boris O Keefe Signed Etching

This is one of three of the famous Dirty Dogs of Paris series by the well listed artist Boris O’Keefe. The picture is framed in a classic black frame and ready to hang 

23 x 51 cm 

Boris O’Klein (1893-1985) was born in Moscow in the USSR to French parents. He returned to France at a young age living in the region of Alsace. Boris served in the French army during the First World War and afterwards moved to Paris where he continued to live until his death.

Boris O’ Keefe became an artist and cartoonist best known for his hand-colored etchings of dogs and cats getting into mischief. We are offering ‘Dirty Dogs of Paris’ or ‘naughty dogs’ because many of the etchings portray lewd acts.

O’Keefe also painted under a pseudonym, “Jean Herblet.” The reason is not known but perhaps under that name he produced more serious work.  The 3 etchings we are offering are pencil signed (hard to make out) and pencil titled.

It appears that most of his work was sold to tourists visiting Paris. It was this that probably led him to start producing prints as he could make multiple copies of the one image and sell it over and over again.

When he produced the series that has become known as the “Dogs of Paris,” it amused and resonated with tourists and became a best seller for him and they have remained popular to this day. The “Dogs of Paris” series was produced by engraving.

The technique requires the image to be “etched” into a plate of a hard surface by a tool called a burin. (These days usually copper). Ink is then rubbed all over the plate and the excess removed leaving ink in the etched lines. Good quality paper is needed which is dampened slightly.