Bellows, George Wesley

Bellows, George Wesley (1882-1925), American realist painter of the Ashcan School. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and educated at Ohio State University. He studied with the realist painter Robert Henri, who strongly influenced him, and later taught in New York and Chicago. Bellows's early work, in a vigorous style, chiefly depicted scenes of urban life and often the world of boxing, as in his most famous painting, Stag at Sharkey's (1909, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio). He received rapid recognition, in 1913 becoming a member of the National Academy of Design at an unusually early age.

Bellows concentrated on portraits, such as Edith Clavell, the British nurse (1918, Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts); Jean and Anna (1920, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy); Emma and Her Children (1923, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston); and on landscapes, such as Up the Hudson (1908, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); and Gramercy Park (1920, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). He produced lithographs of such fine quality that he inspired a renewed interest in the medium.