Robert Kennedy Abbett (1926-2015), Bo and Duke

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The Winter Sale 2022, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Mar 4, 2022

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• Lot Description
  Robert Kennedy Abbett (1926-2015)
  Bo and Duke, 1981
  signed and dated "R. Abbett © 1981" lower right
  oil on board, 21 by 36 3/4 in.
  signed, titled, and inscribed on back
  
  "As a bird hunter who has owned many setters and labs over the years, this Abbett work speaks to me. It captures a setter's essence of running freely, showing his young friend the way." — Stephen B. O'Brien Jr.
  
  Robert Abbett, born in Indiana in 1926, is best known for his depictions of sporting dogs, flyfishing, and Western life. He began his career as an advertising illustrator, attending night and weekend classes at both the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the American Academy of Art where he found himself drawn to editorial and advertising art. In 1953 he moved from Chicago to Connecticut to be closer to the editorial markets. He illustrated for “Argosy,” “The Woman's Home Companion,” “Sports Afield,” “Reader's Digest,” and “True” magazines. He also worked with several West Coast motion picture studios and drew covers for many of the leading paperback publishers. Abbett was commissioned to paint his first animal portrait of “Luke” in 1970, and subsequently transitioned from working as an illustrator to a full-time gallery artist. Abbett is recognized as a master in the field of sporting art.
  
  This painting depicts two of the artist’s own dogs, Duke of Oakdale and Bo Jangles. In "A Season for Painting," Abbett recalls his setter Duke "graced our family for his lifetime as hunting dog and artist's model and all-around pal." Remembering his Labrador, Abbett writes, “Bo’s worst problem was his unlimited energy; he should have belonged to someone who hunted ducks with him at least twice a day, twelve months a year, with an occasional field trial or two thrown in. As a pup, he would sit in the studio watching me, crouched like a leopard about to spring, and I would tell him, ‘Look, Bo, I’m sorry, but there’s just not a lot going on right now.’ Perhaps I should have named him ‘Patton’: his charge was unstoppable.”
  
  Bill Webster selected this iconic painting to make into a limited-edition print by Wild Wings in 1982.
  
  Literature: Robert K. Abbett, "A Season for Painting: The Outdoor Art of Robert K. Abbett," Dallas, TX, 2001, pp. 32, 48, 71, and 178, print illustrated.

  Condition

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