George Bellows

George Bellows was an American painter known for gritty, energetic scenes of early twentieth century city life. Born in Ohio in 1882, he settled in New York and became linked with the Ashcan School, a group who painted the rough, unglamorous side of the modern city. His most famous works are boxing pictures, all sweat, muscle, and lunging bodies under harsh light, painted with slashing, urgent strokes.

He also painted tenements, crowds, snowy streets, and quieter portraits and landscapes, always with a strong sense of movement and weight. A gifted lithographer as well, he used prints to comment on the news and social issues of his day. Bellows died suddenly in 1925 at just forty two, cutting short one of the most promising American careers of his generation.