
Leo Webster
Senior Specialist


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Senior Specialist
Morgan Dennis was born Burt Morgan in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied art with the American etcher William Harry Warren Bicknell (1860-1947) in Provincetown, MA, and attended the New School of Design in Boston. He also studied with Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947) in England. Whilst studying he worked as an illustrator for several newspapers in Boston.
Early in his career, Dennis established himself as a dog artist. Today his name remains synonymous with pups, mutts, terriers and pedigree dogs. Even his houseboat was called "The Sea Dog".
Dennis's best known sitter was 'Fala', Franklin Roosevelt's Scottish Terrier. His ability to capture the expressions and capers of his canine companions kept him in constant demand as an illustrator for magazines and periodicals. He also painted a mural at the Sheraton Russell Hotel bar, New York.
In the US, Dennis exhibited extensively including Fort Meyers, Florida. Key West; Clarke Univ., Worcester, Long Island; and the Macbeth Gallery, NYC.
Dennis was a member of the Author's League, NYC, at which time he lived in Shoreham, NY. Perhaps his greatest success came in the 1940s when he is credited with the creation of the "Black and White Scotties", an advertisement used for many years by the Black and White Scotch Whisky Company.