The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful

George Wesley Bellows

Summer Surf 1914

George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, becoming, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, “the most acclaimed American artist of his generation”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bellows

The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful.”

George Bellows

George Bellows was born in Columbus, Ohio on 19th August, 1882. At Ohio State University (1901-1904) Bellows was a talented baseball player but his first love was art and he moved to New York without graduating.

Bellows studied at the New York School of Art under Robert Henri, leader of what became known as the Ashcan School. In 1906 he rented a studio and began painting scenes of everyday urban life. He also taught art at the Arts Students League.

Bellows developed a strong social conscious and in 1911 began contributing pictures to the radical journal, The Masses. Although rarely paid for his work, Bellows got the opportunity to work with other left-wing artists such as John Sloan, Stuart Davis and Boardman Robinson.

Bellows were deeply influenced by the events of the First World War and he completed a series of paintings and lithographs on the subject. He also produced several anti-war drawings for The Masses including the powerful attack on Woodrow Wilson and his Espionage Act, Blessed are the Peacemakers.

In 1919 Bellows moved to the Chicago Art Institute. He also illustrated novels including several by H. G. Wells. George Bellows died on 8th January, 1925 in New York after a neglected attack of appendicitis.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTbellows.htm