Walton Ford’s Dog Song: A Berlin fable in watercolour and wit
The celebrated artist's new limited edition from TASCHEN follows two musical canines through pre unification Berlin, their adventures rendered in the luminous precision of 19th century naturalism.
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Walton Ford’s new limited edition for TASCHEN, Dog Song, unfolds as an exquisitely drawn narrative of two anthropomorphic musicians navigating pre unification Berlin with competing temperaments and appetites. David moves through the world with bookish contemplation, methodical and restrained; Jimmy lurches forward on instinct alone, driven by desire and appetite. Together they search for musical inspiration, their journey rendered across loose leaf folded sheets bound within a clamshell box that feels as precious as the tale itself.
Ford draws from the visual vocabulary of 19th century naturalists, that precise language of pen and watercolour that once catalogued the animal kingdom. Here he repurposes that elegance for contemporary storytelling, his hand written text dancing across the page in careful script alongside illustrations coloured in ochre, sage and terracotta. The dogs themselves read as recognizably human yet unmistakably canine, their proportions and expressions balancing the slapstick with something altogether more poignant. Between the comedy moves something darker: questions of creativity and survival, power and natural order, the things that drive us forward and the instincts that may undo us.
The limited edition, numbered 101 to 600, includes Ford’s original handwritten text and drawings on loose leaf sheets presented in a clamshell box. It is available through TASCHEN’s website.
Imagery courtesy of TASCHEN (@taschen).
