Boris O'Klein
Illustration — Comme nos maîtres (Like our masters): original hand-painted and signed etching • Illustration — Chacun son tour (Wait your turn) Boris O'Klein, born Arthur 'Boris' Klein, (Moscow, September 26, 1893 – 1985), a French artist and cartoonist. An anthropomorphic artist, he is known for his numerous prints and watercolors of dogs getting up to mischief. The prints are generally called "The Naughty Dogs" or "The Dirty Dogs" or "The Dirty Dogs of Paris."
Boris O'Klein
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Full name
- Arthur Klein.
- Born
- 1893. · Moscow.
- Died
- 1985. · Corbeil-Essonnes.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- painter and illustrator.
- Languages
- French.
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Illustration — Comme nos maîtres (Like our masters): original hand-painted and signed etching • Illustration — Chacun son tour (Wait your turn) Boris O'Klein, born Arthur 'Boris' Klein, (Moscow, September 26, 1893 – 1985), a French artist and cartoonist. An anthropomorphic artist, he is known for his numerous prints and watercolors of dogs getting up to mischief. The prints are generally called "The Naughty Dogs" or "The Dirty Dogs" or "The Dirty Dogs of Paris."
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wikidata · Q3347409 · wikipedia · Boris O'Klein
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Personal
Personal
O'Klein was born in Moscow, Russia. His family emigrated to the Alsace when he was a boy. After serving on behalf of the French in World War I, he moved to Paris.
Career
Career
O'Klein's period of greatest activity as an artist was during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. During his lifetime, much of his output appears to have been purchased by tourists on trips to Paris.
Jean Herblet
Jean Herblet
O'Klein also painted with similar technique and in a more classical style many serious animal subjects, often a hunting dog with a duck, under the pseudonym "Jean Herblet".
Themes
Themes
The two main themes of O'Klein's art are (1) public urination; and (2) male-female flirtation or desire. The numerous scenes by O'Klein of dogs lined up against walls or beside trees to urinate are part of what gives the prints their incendiary appeal for some viewers. In other prints, a number of male dogs will follow a female dog with an air of evident interest.
Television
Television
In the second episode of season one of the Stephen Fry TV show Kingdom, a print by O'Klein is used as part of the set decor in the living room in the house owned by the character played by Steve Pemberton. The print by O'Klein is one of those which shows a row of anthropomorphic dogs urinating against a wall, giving a window onto the character's psychology and taste in art.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1893
Boris O'Klein born at Moscow.
1985
Boris O'Klein died in 1985 at Corbeil-Essonnes.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Moscow.
Birth place
Corbeil-Essonnes.
Death place
Technique
While O'Klein was a prolific artist and produced many watercolors, the greatest part of his output consists of prints, either color lithographs or engravings heightened with hand-painted touches of watercolor. Many of these prints appear to have been produced in O'Klein's later years and after his death, and are still produced to this day.
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Secondary witness
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People, houses and institutions
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Born at
1- MoscowPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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