THE SILLY season is not far off and the announcement of  the coming summer exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery confirms suspicions that the gallery is hell-bent on embracing the public.

In a release headed “Pawtraits of creatures great and small” the gallery tells us it plans to celebrate the ‘trusting and unpretentious ways’ of our animal companions in a happy, idiosyncratic exhibition titled “The Popular Pet Show”.

Yes, it will be made up of painted and sculpted recent portraits of Australians and their pets, and is, somehow surprisingly, the inspiration of well-known National Portrait Gallery curator and historian Dr Sarah Engledow.

Dr Engledow has looked to express “the gaiety and cosiness that many of us enjoy with our animal companions, while showcasing different ways artists portray creatures great and small”.

But you can never put a good curator down, so she has considered the artistic merit of the works too, promising ‘brightness’ from Ken Done, ‘dream-like realism’ from Graeme Drendel and ‘edgy watercolour’ from Fiona McMonagle.

“The painted, sculpted and drawn pet animals in this exhibition make friendly ambassadors for different approaches to art…Some artists go at their subjects in a fever and some labour over individual hairs…For me, even comparing how much blank space different artists leave around a dog or a bird is interesting,” Engledow says.

Cats, birds, sheep, horses, and native beasts will get a look in too, “showing us a thing or two about art, making us think, making us laugh and making us purr.”

A fully-illustrated catalogue (RRP $29.95), written by Dr Engledow, will be available for purchase.

“The Popular Pet Show” will run at the National Portrait Gallery from November 4 to March 13, 10am–5pm daily.