Best known for inventive and often hilarious photographs of his Weimaraners, William Wegman works in a variety of media, including painting, video and photography. He has been the subject of several major museum retrospectives, most recently at the Brooklyn Museum in 2006 and has created videos for Saturday Night Live, a series of children’s books and books for adults, including Man’s Best Friend, Fashion Photographs and Fay. About those dogs:

It was while he was in Long Beach that Wegman got his dog, Man Ray, with whom he began a long and fruitful collaboration. Man Ray, known in the art world and beyond for his endearing deadpan presence, became a central figure in Wegman’s photographs and videotapes. In 1981, Man Ray died. It was not until 1986 that Wegman got a new dog, Fay Ray, and another collaboration began marked by Wegman’s extensive use of the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera. With the birth of Fay’s litter in 1989, Wegman’s cast of grew to include Fay’s offspring — Battina, Crooky and Chundo — and later, their offspring: Battina’s son Chip in 1995, Chip’s son Bobbin in 1999 and Candy and Bobbin’s daughter Penny in 2004.

Wegman appears at 92Y on Jan 14 for a presentation and conversation with Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art, in our Artists’ Visions Series.

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