This gallery features works of art related to Nipper, the famous Terrier that was the trademark for the Victor Talking Machine Company (The Gramophone Company) and its later RCA incarnation. The dog (part Bull Terrier, part Fox Terrier) that couldn't find a home with the Edison Phonograph went on to become one of the most famous images in the history of advertising. It has inspired a number of cartoons, parodies and other derivitive creations. The original painting by Francis Barraud displayed an Edison Phonograph as the subject talking machine. In 1898 Barraud repainted the Phonograph as a Berliner Gramophone and it would become the trademark for Eldridge Johnson's Victor Talking Machine Company (which he took over from Berliner). The rest is Nipper history.
Dog Looking at and Listening to a Phonograph
Artist: Francis Barraud
Media: Oil, 1898, 36" x 28
Dog Looking at and Listening to a Phonograph
Artist: Francis Barraud
Media: Oil, 1898, 36" x 28"
Francis Barraud revised his Phonograph painting with what was to become known as "His Master's Voice"
Leonard Petts, author of the Story of Nipper and the 'His Master's Voice' picture (published for The Talking Machine Review International, 1973), quotes Alfred Clark (Managing Director of the Gramophone Company in 1935) as follows: "He (Francis Barraud) took it to a company then prominent in the sale of wax cylinder phonographs, to see whether they were interested enough to acquire it. They did not seem at all impressed by the originality and beauty of the picture, but asked for more time to think it over."
Barraud replaced the cylinder machine (an Edison commercial model) with a brass horn and a talking machine supplied by The Gramophone Company. Johnson's company then purchased the updated picture.
His Master's Voice
Artist: Francis Barraud
Media: Color postcard shaped like Nipper c.2005
Gramomobil
Artist: Unknown
Media: Color postcard, Berlin, 4 1/4" x 5 3/4"
His Master's Voice
Artist: Anne van Wijk, Amsterdam, 1988
Media: Collage, color postcard, 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"
His Master's Voice - You are the Girl for Me
Artist: Unknown
Media: Postcard, circa 1912
His Master's Voice (with Apologies)
Artist: Tom Brown, Publisher: Davidson Bros.
Media: Postcard, circa 1903
Hearing
Artist: A.E. Kennedy
Media: Postcard, circa 1911
His Master's Voice - Back cover of catalogue
Artist: Francis Barraud, c.1901
Media: Embossed color paper, 4" x 6", 38 pages
"Consolidated Talking Machine Co. - Improved Gram-o-Phone". (Click on Nipper to view catalogue cover). Consolidated had a 5 year business history under Eldridge Johnson before it became the Victor Talking Machine Company.
Re-creation of His Master's Voice at the South Pole
Artist: Unknown
Media: Photograph, b-w
Scott's Antartica Expedition replaced the fox terrier with a husky listening to "His Master's Voice."
Home Music Voice
Artist: Unknown, c.1920
Media: Litho on tin
HMV imitation with chicken replacing Nipper
The Success Sausage Machine
Artist: Unknown, c.1905
Postcard
Nipper with Television
Artist: Unknown, c.1985
Media: Ink on Paper
Worldly Wit
Artist: Unknown, 1988
Media: Ink on Paper (newspaper cartoon)
His Master's Visage
Artist: Stereo Review, October 1978
Media: Ink on Paper (magazine cartoon)
Not a word!
Artist: Unknown
Media: Postcard
A cat takes the place of Nipper in this postcard that depicts a cat waiting to hear something (instead of Nipper listening to his master's voice). The card also features two double-meaning phonograph related phrases: you've 'broken the record" and "I'm winding up"
Frank and Ernest
Artist: Bob Thaves, 9-3-1988
Media: Newspaper cartoon
His Master's Voice Mail
Artist: Mike Peters, 11-13-1993
Media: Newspaper cartoon
His Master's Voice and Company
Artist: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, c.1901
Courtesy: grammophone.ch
Advertising Revealed
Artist: Hillary B. Price, November 23, 2003
His Master's Vice
Artist: Unknown, c.1905
Courtesy: Phono-holics Anonymous (on The Phonograph Ring)
This postcard is one of many Nipper parodies that changed the "o" in "Voice" to "i", to create "His Master's Vice". Many of these cards featured Nipper and the whiskey bottle. This card actually depicts multiple vices. But since Nipper represented the "World's Greatest Music", isn't it natural that these other vices would join Nipper to complete the trilogy of "Wine, Women and Song?"
The Moorestown, New Jersey Nipper's, Roots of Nipper
Artist: Margaret Ingersoll, c. 2005
Media: Paint on fiberglass
Sponsor: Lockheed Martin
<--Click on Nipper to see the entire Nipper exhibition (30 statues) displayed in Moorestown, NJ in 2005. Photographs courtesy of Nipper 2005. For a description of the project see the Nipper 2005 website.
Color Management for Photographers
Artist: Unknown, c. 2005
Media: Bookcover
A Nipper-like dog watches and listens to music on a computer...the new master of the 21st century.
Master Your Music
Artist: Unknown, 2006
Media: PC Magazine, August 22, 2006
Homage to Nipper, listening to an Apple video iPod
Old Records Go In, CDs Come Out
Artist: Stuart Goldenberg, 2006
Media: Newspaper illustration (New York Times August 17)
Pathe Marconi
Artist: Unknown
Media: Advertisement reprint on canvas, 8" x 10"
