George Wesley Bellows Art

1882–1925 In 1910 he began teaching at the Art Students League and soon after had his first one-person exhibition at the Independent Artists Gallery in New York. Bellows was among the artists who helped organize the avant-garde Armory Show in 1913 and some of his works were exhibited there. Despite his involvement in the Armory Show and its commitment to promoting the most advanced styles of art, he was able to straddle both the academic and progressive movements. His art encompassed both less conventional subjects such as boxing scenes and political events, as well as more traditional images—portraits and leisure activities.

In 1916 he began to experiment with lithography, an interest he pursued for the rest of his life. His lithographs show dramatic contrasts of light and dark similar to the interplay of light and shadow seen in his paintings, particularly his scenes of boxing matches. And the dynamic and free brushwork of his painted images is carried over into the broad sweep of the lithographic crayon in his prints. In 1922, Bellows moved to Woodstock, New York, where he remained until his death in 1925.