Artist Charlotte Dumas recently published a new book titled Al Lavoro! It is the third title in the acclaimed series published by Fantombooks. The project was commissioned by Rapallo Fotografia Contemporanea 2010/2011. For Al Lavoro! Dumas portrayed working dogs in the region of Liguria Italy. Included are a life guard dog, a truffle dog, a hunting dog, a former laboratory dog, a retired racing dog and two rescue dogs.

Dogs are a recurring topic in the work of Dumas. This is her fourth series about dogs if you include the portraits of police dogs she made early in her career. In 2008 she photographed stray dogs in the streets of Palermo and in 2009 stray dogs at the shelters of New York City. The series about the stray dogs of Palermo was self published as Heart Shaped Hole in 2008.

What makes this book different from her other books is that she not only included the seven finished pieces, but also 24 Polaroids that served as studies. For two hunting dogs, who remain unnamed in the book, she only included a couple of Polaroid pictures.

In these portraits the influence of classical painting seems less apparent than in the earlier portraits of horses or the dogs in Heart Shaped Hole. This might be because in these pictures the setting appears more contemporary compared to the horse stables or the streets of Palermo. The dogs in these pictures pose at work: in the car boot, the back of a van or a fire brigade helicopter. The retired dogs posed at home on the couch as you might expect.

Al Lavoro! by Charlotte Dumas was curated by Francesco Zanot and designed by Fabrizio Radaelli. It is published by Fantombooks in an edition of 350 copies.