Boris O'Klein etchings
Dirty Dogs of Paris

(1893-1985) was born in Moscow in the USSR to French parents. Boris returned to France at a young age living in the region of Alsace. He signed up and served in the French army during the First World War and afterwards moved to Paris where he continued to live until his death.

Boris O’Klein (1893-1985) was born in Moscow in the USSR to French parents. He returned to France at a young age living in the region of Alsace. Boris signed up and served in the French army during the First World War and afterwards moved to Paris where he continued to live until his death.

Boris O’Klein the artist

Boris O’ Klein became an artist and cartoonist and is best known for his hand-coloured etchings of dogs getting up to mischief. They have become known as the ‘Dirty Dogs of Paris’ or ‘naughty dogs’ because many of the etchings portray lewd acts.

He also painted under a pseudonym, “Jean Herblet” The reason is not known but perhaps under that name he produced more serious work. All his work seemed to feature dogs however, and under the name “Jean Herblet” he produced many hunting scenes.

It appears that most of his work was sold to tourists visiting Paris. It was this that probably led him to start producing prints as he could make multiple copies of the one image and sell it over and over again.

When he produced the series that has become known as the “Dogs of Paris,” it amused and resonated with tourists and became a best seller for him and they have remained popular to this day. The “Dogs of Paris” series was produced by engraving.

Engraving

The technique requires the image to be “etched” into a plate of a hard surface by a tool called a burin. (These days usually copper). Ink is then rubbed all over the plate and the excess removed leaving ink in the etched lines. Good quality paper is needed which is dampened slightly. 

The plate and the paper is then put under a press leaving the image on the paper. Engraving is quite a time-consuming exercise as each print has to be individually done by hand. Each print of the “Dogs of Paris” series was then hand coloured.

Upon the death of Boris O Klein in 1985 his Grandson Eric, has taken over the production of these prints from the original plates and hand paints them to authentically match the originals of his Grandfather and signs them in his own hand.