George Wesley Bellows 1882-1925) — American artist, who worked in the genre of realism and impressionism, painted many wonderful portraits, landscapes, nudes and paintings devoted to sports. It is the latter and became a kind of “calling card” of the artist, because in other genres created many, but sports in serious painting before Bellows almost was not represented.
Boxers. At the limit of endurance
However, this choice of topic was not accidental. Bellowes since his youth was seriously interested in baseball, loved to read books by Jack London, and then became interested in boxing and even went to the sports club, which belonged to a former boxer Sharky. That's why Bellows' paintings dedicated to boxing are written very realistically and expressively, with a lot of details that could be noticed only by a “person in the subject” and one can feel that Bellows created them from the heart, not purely for earning money, like his some drawings for newspaper reports.
Dempsey and Firpo
One of Bellows' best pictures, “Dempsey and Firpo”, shows an iconic episode from the fight between two boxers: American heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey and Argentinean Luis Firpo. Firpo sends Dempsey into a knockout, so that he flew over the ropes. However, the fight was won by Dempsey, so those guys were really iron, if even such a blow carried without any consequences. Bellows also depicted himself there: a bald man in the left corner, and it is one of the most original self-portraits. He probably wanted to emphasize that he himself witnessed this boxing match. The painting perfectly captures the dynamics of the boxers' movements; although it is painted in oil, it resembles a newsreel shot from the most spectacular point.
The beach at Coney Island
But Bellows still preferred painting to sports. Perhaps he thought that creative development in a person is more important than purely physical, or maybe he just did not want to be a “cog in the team”, because he has always valued individuality. Although at Ohio State University he was made a tempting offer to become a professional baseball player, he still decided to study painting at the New York School of Art. His supervisor was Robert Henry, who was considered one of the founders of the “Garbage Pail School” - so called the movement in American painting, whose representatives tried to realistically depict episodes from the life of the social underbelly of New York.
Shipbuilders
Somehow their paintings resembled drawings from daily newspapers, which after reading ended up in the trash, and the interest in “low subjects” eventually gave rise to some conservative critics to give such a disparaging name.
Two years after graduation, Bellows had already opened his own studio, and he was first talked about after a solo exhibition that Robert Henry helped organize in 1908. Many of Bellows's genre paintings are reminiscent of reportage photographs: they are made in the spirit of impressionism and depict the here and now.
New York
Bellows was eager to work on the plein air, but limited himself to painting small sketches, which he reworked into substantial oil paintings in his studio. This allowed him to “capture the moment”, and at the same time accelerated the creative process, and it was possible to work in more comfortable conditions. However, because of this specificity, he no longer paid special attention to light, focusing more on the immediate image.
Snow Scavengers
However, his paintings stood out among other artists' artwork: for example, Bellows painted a series of winter views of New York City, where he focused not on the beautiful scenery, but on how much snow was on the streets and whether it was being removed at all. In general, the style of newspaper reportage captured in oil was unusual and innovative at the time, which is why it attracted attention.
Bellows willingly experimented with color solutions and composition of his paintings, and gradually began to write on the widest possible topics, including in the genre of nude. He was willingly ordered portraits, good drawer he was great and even organized his own print shop, publishing prints created by him.
Sitting nude
But unfortunately, he did not manage to live long: he died at the age of 42 from inflammation of the appendix, and if not untimely death for sure, according to many critics, could have become one of the leading American artists.
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