Kristen Levesque
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Seven Congress Square
Portland, Maine 04101
(207) 775-6148 ext. 3223
klevesque@portlandmuseum.org
Release: February 5, 2008
The Powerful Hand of George Bellows on view at the Portland Museum of Art
(Portland, Maine) George Bellows (1882–1925) has long been respected for his ability to capture the spirit and character of American life in the early 20th century. The Powerful Hand of George Bellows: Drawings from the Boston Public Library, which features more than 60 works, sets a new standard for recording the history and significance of the artist’s drawings. Taken from the Wiggin Collection and related lithographs at the Boston Public Library, the works—ranging from intimate studies of the artist’s friends and family to public sporting events and social gatherings—have not been seen together since the 1950s. The exhibition is on view April 10 through June 1, 2008 at the Portland Museum of Art.
Best known for a relatively small number of controversial boxing images, Bellows is equally notable for his contributions to American landscape painting, portraiture, and especially scenes of modern American life. His well-known paintings convey the liveliness present in many aspects of American society, from urban scenes to the seashore. His lesser-known drawings reveal how he captured this energy with a quick, vibrant line that leaps off the page and brings the scenes to life. These drawings are not only preparatory works for paintings and lithographs; they are often finished works in themselves, intended for publication in magazines and newspapers like Harper’s Weekly and The Masses.
During his brief lifetime (he was a college drop-out at 22, member of the National Academy of Design in 1909 at 27, the country’s most accomplished lithographer at 35, and dead of appendicitis at 43), Bellows was given major one-artist exhibitions at museums in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Worcester, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Rochester.
Since his death in 1925, the country’s most significant collections of American painting have granted Bellows a place among their most important artists, and celebrated his accomplishments in at least 20 major exhibitions. Bellows created an enormous body of work in his 21 years—more than 700 paintings, almost 200 editions of lithographs and an equivalent number of drawings.
Presentation of this exhibition in Portland will also be enhanced by the inclusion of five monumental paintings by Bellows. These paintings represent key moments in his career and offer an expanded view of some of the same subjects dealt with in his works on paper. Selected works on paper from the collection of the Portland Museum of Art will also augment the works on view.
The exhibition was curated by Robert Conway, formerly Director of Associated American Artists and a specialist in modern American prints and drawings for more than 20 years. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition, written by Conway, illustrates all 48 Wiggin drawings and describes for the first time the ingenious combinations of graphic media Bellows used to create them. The catalogue will be available in the Museum Store in the spring. The Portland Museum of Art’s curator for the exhibition is Jessica Skwire Routhier.
The exhibition tour itinerary is as follows: The Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (April 21–June 17, 2007); The Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio (July 12–September 23, 2007); The Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida (October 11–December 23, 2007); Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (January 10–March 23, 2008); Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine (April 10–June 1, 2008); San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas (June 21–August 31, 2008); Boston Public Library in Boston, Massachusetts (September 22–December 1, 2008).
The Powerful Hand of George Bellows: Drawings from the Boston Public Library was organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with the Boston Public Library, Massachusetts.
This exhibition is made possible by the generosity of Norton Insurance & Financial Services and MEMIC. Media support has been provided by Port City Life.
Museum Information
The Portland Museum of Art is located at Seven Congress Square in downtown Portland. The Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. Memorial Day through Columbus Day, the Museum is open on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with I.D., $4 for youth ages 6 to 17, and children under 6 are free. The Museum is free on Friday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Museum Cafe and Store. For more information, call (207) 775-6148. Web site www.portlandmuseum.org.