Description
A major new volume celebrating the lithographs of George Wesley Bellows (1882-1925), regarded as one of America’s greatest artists.
“In the final decade of his quick-paced but foreshortened life, he added lithography to his combination of painter-illustrator, knocking out hundreds of prints of urban life as well as depictions of the civilian horrors of World War I. George Bellows: American Life in Print, a new volume by Kristin L. Spangenberg, reveals the haunting energy of these innovative works.”—James Panero, The New Criterion
George Bellows (1882–1925) was a painter, illustrator and printmaker. His career already established, in late 1915 he turned to lithography. Over the next nine years he almost single-handedly elevated lithography in America to a fine art. The inherent flexibility of the process, its potential for drawing in vigorous strokes and its richness of tone were well suited to his style. The subjects that fascinated him range from intimate studies of his family and friends to snapshots of American life, the atrocities of World War I and what first caught the public’s attention: boxing. All were new and undeniably American.
George Bellows: American Life in Print features two essays. “Bellows, Advocate for Lithography” is an in-depth examination of 66 lithographs and drawings. A second essay explores the artist’s rise to fame in “Bellows and the ‘Art Palace of the West,’” focusing on his long-term relationship with the Cincinnati Art Museum and its Annual Exhibition of American Art.
Author biography
Kristin L. Spangenberg is curator of Prints at the Cincinnati Art Museum
Table of Contents
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- Foreword by Cameron Kitchin, director, Cincinnati Art Museum
- Statement by Dr. James J. and Mrs. Lois R. Sanitato
- Acknowledgments
- George Bellows: Advocate for Lithography
- Explanatory Notes
- Catalogue
- George Bellows and the “Art Palace of the West”
- Exhibition List
- The Unexpected Discovery
- Concordance of Lithographs
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Photo Credits
