Art Unleashed, the annual fundraiser for the Greater Kansas City Humane Society will be Friday, August 27th at Hale Arena (in the American Royal Complex). Here’s the website for more information:
http://www.hsgkc.org/artunleashed.html
I’ve had the opportunity to donate art to this event for the last five years and it’s been fun trying to come up with a creative pieces every year. I started borrowing iconic images and adding photos of my dogs, since even paintings of the masters can be improved with animals. Here is this year’s piece:
I’m pretty sure that Sargent intended to put a dog in the picture, but probably just forgot or ran out of time. He was notoriously late.
Let the waters come... 
Hilarious – and just a bit of trivia for you – this painting was actually originally done with her right strap hanging off her shoulder. It caused such a scandal that he eventually repainted it as you see it there. Enjoy the art show!
There’s a wonderful book about the painting called “Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X.” I tried to find a really good copy of the original painting, but ran out of time and had to settle for the one I used. But the fundraiser is a family event, after all, and the original might have been a little too much for our staid Kansas City crowd. Thanks for the comment.