Amon Carter Museum shows ' An American Original ~ George Bellows '

Written by Noel Bernard Friday, 03 September 2010 21:45

Fort Worth, Texas - Experience the fascinating and diverse lithographs of famed American painter and printmaker George Bellows (1882-1925) in this special exhibition from the Amon Carter’s permanent collection.The show reassembles Bellows’ 32 lithographs from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas.  On exhibition through 19 April, 2009 at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

The show reassembles Bellows’ 32 lithographs from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas. Bellows was known for his ability to capture the truth of American life through his varied subject matter, which includes scenes of urban life, boxing, popular religion, portraits, female nudes, and magazine illustrations. 

Although George Bellows did not exhibit with The Eight, by the time of the exhibition his name was often linked with theirs as a follower of Robert Henri and one of the "youthful apostles of force, who express...the rush and crush of modern life, the contempt for authority." For him, 1908 proved to be a banner year. In the wake of the Macbeth Galleries show. he participated in an exhibition that critics dubbed "The Eight out-Eighted."

After 1908, Bellows's art explored several directions. He continued to depict fight scenes and other city subjects but also painted seascapes in Maine. With fame came prestige, portrait commissions, invitations to socialize with wealthy people, and some very interesting images of New York's elites at leisure. At the same time, he revisited the subjects of his early paintings in a series of large-scale prints that helped expand lithography's potential as a fine-art medium.

Designed by Philip Johnson (1906–2005), the Amon Carter Museum building opened to the public in January 1961. “Johnson’s museum is extremely elegant,” one architecture critic wrote in Harper’s Magazine that May. From the beginning, the museum was intended to be a vibrant institution; not only would it house Mr. Carter’s collection of works by Remington and Russell, it would expand to encompass a broader range of American art.  Visit : http://www.cartermuseum.org/