George Bellows and the American Experience is currently on view at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio. The exhibition highlight’s the Columbus Museum’s significant Bellows collection, which is widely recognized as the best in the world. The show also includes a number of paintings on loan from other museums and private collections.
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, George Bellows moved to New York City in 1904 to study with the influential artist and teacher, Robert Henri, and soon became the youngest member of the Ashcan School. Dedicated to chronicling the realities of day-to-day life, Bellows made a name as the boldest of the Ashcan artists. He was recently the subject of a major retrospective, which included his well-known paintings of boxing matches and gritty New York tenements, many of which came from the Columbus Museum.
Melissa Wolfe, the Columbus Museum of Art’s Curator of American Art, said, “For the past year our Bellows paintings have traveled the world as part of a major retrospective that drew crowds to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Royal Academy in London. We’re excited to welcome them home and to be able to celebrate the profound impact George Bellows had, and continues to have, on the art world.”
An international scholarly symposium will be held on November 8 and 9, 2013 to complement the exhibition. George Bellows and the American Experience will be on view at the Columbus Museum of Art through January 4, 2014.
