Club Night

Two boxers collide at the center of the ring, their sweating bodies caught in a blaze of light while the space around them dissolves into murky darkness. George Bellows painted this rough scene in 1907, back when public prize fighting was against the law in New York City. To get around the rules, fights were staged inside private "athletic clubs" where members packed in close to watch. The crowd along the bottom edge is worth a second glance, their faces lit by the same harsh glow, some cheering, others wearing an expression that feels a bit less friendly.

Bellows ran with a scrappy group of painters called the Ashcan School, artists who ignored polite subjects and instead showed the city as it truly was, mess and all. His brushwork here is thick and quick, splashing the figures into being with a raw energy that keeps the punch feeling like it is still landing. The whole room seems loud and hot and just a little dangerous.

Part of what gives the painting its punch is Bellows own history. He had been a real athlete in college and knew firsthand what a body goes through in the heat of competition. Boxing pulled him back again and again over the years, and these fight scenes are among the finest ever put to canvas.