American, 1882 - 1925
The son of an architect and builder, George Bellows was a descendant of the founder of Bellows Falls, Vermont. He attended Ohio State University in Columbus from 1901 to 1904, leaving school after his junior year. With money earned from selling cartoons and playing semi-professional baseball, he moved to New York, where in September 1904, he entered William Merritt Chase's New York School of Art, studing with Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller until 1906. Henri became a lifelong mentor and friend; Bellows once referred to Henri as "my father" (Bellows, Arts and Decoration).
It was at the New York School that Bellows met Emma Story of Monclair, New Jersey, whom he married in 1910. The couple purchased a house at 146 East Nineteenth Street in New York, where the majority of Bellows' work was executed. That year Bellows took over F. Luis Mora's life class at the Art Students League teaching there again from 1917 to 1919. In the summer of 1911, he spent one month with Henri on Monhegan Island, Maine, returning to Maine on summer sketching trips often during througout the teens.
Bellows never traveled to Europe, a fact usually cited in discussions of his creation of 'American realism,' a style of painting considered indigenous, straightforward and masculine. Yet as a member of the Executive Committee of the 1913 Armory show, he was instrumental in presenting European modernism to the American public.
Bellows contributed illustrations to The Masses, whose art editor was John Sloan, from 1912 until the magazine ceased publication in 1917. In 1916, the artist began experimenting with lithography. In the summer and fall of 1917, Bellows traveled to California and New Mexico.
In 1919, Bellows with Henri, Sloan and Walt Kuhn was a founder of the New Society of Artists, an attempt to reform academic practices. In the fall of 1919, he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. During this period, Bellows was influenced by Dynamic Symmetry, developed by the artist-illustrator, Jay Hambridge, a theory which approached artistic composition through geometric ratios. In 1920, the artist purchased property in Woodstock, New York, eventually designing and building a house there.
Bellows quickly received artistic recognition from the Academy. His work first appeared in its exhibition in 1907, just a year after he had completed his formal training. He was awarded a Hallgarten prize in the annual of 1908, and was elected to membership just a year later. Bellows continued to exhibit regularly in Academy exhibitions from through 1918, and continued to be well rewarded there: a Hallgarten prize, 1913; Maynard prize, 1914; and Isidor medal in the winter exhibition of 1916. Despite his absence from its exhibitions for the preceding several years, upon his unexpected death following an appendectomy, the Academy eulogized him as "an experimentor, interested in every new thing and every new medium . . . He was a leader, perhaps the leader of the younger group of men."
It was at the New York School that Bellows met Emma Story of Monclair, New Jersey, whom he married in 1910. The couple purchased a house at 146 East Nineteenth Street in New York, where the majority of Bellows' work was executed. That year Bellows took over F. Luis Mora's life class at the Art Students League teaching there again from 1917 to 1919. In the summer of 1911, he spent one month with Henri on Monhegan Island, Maine, returning to Maine on summer sketching trips often during througout the teens.
Bellows never traveled to Europe, a fact usually cited in discussions of his creation of 'American realism,' a style of painting considered indigenous, straightforward and masculine. Yet as a member of the Executive Committee of the 1913 Armory show, he was instrumental in presenting European modernism to the American public.
Bellows contributed illustrations to The Masses, whose art editor was John Sloan, from 1912 until the magazine ceased publication in 1917. In 1916, the artist began experimenting with lithography. In the summer and fall of 1917, Bellows traveled to California and New Mexico.
In 1919, Bellows with Henri, Sloan and Walt Kuhn was a founder of the New Society of Artists, an attempt to reform academic practices. In the fall of 1919, he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. During this period, Bellows was influenced by Dynamic Symmetry, developed by the artist-illustrator, Jay Hambridge, a theory which approached artistic composition through geometric ratios. In 1920, the artist purchased property in Woodstock, New York, eventually designing and building a house there.
Bellows quickly received artistic recognition from the Academy. His work first appeared in its exhibition in 1907, just a year after he had completed his formal training. He was awarded a Hallgarten prize in the annual of 1908, and was elected to membership just a year later. Bellows continued to exhibit regularly in Academy exhibitions from through 1918, and continued to be well rewarded there: a Hallgarten prize, 1913; Maynard prize, 1914; and Isidor medal in the winter exhibition of 1916. Despite his absence from its exhibitions for the preceding several years, upon his unexpected death following an appendectomy, the Academy eulogized him as "an experimentor, interested in every new thing and every new medium . . . He was a leader, perhaps the leader of the younger group of men."
