mceRHACionAL
ELEANOR, JEAN AND ANNA Courtesy oj Mrs. George Bellows BY GEORGE BELLOWS
There was also in Bellows something of the
showman which led to the production of occasional
so-called "Academy" pictures, wherein he pal-
pably set out to make a stir. Usually he succeeded
and his yearly offering at the New Society was
invariably a bone of pictorial contention. The
"Two Women," shown at the last convention of
that society at the Anderson Galleries, and his
large "Nude," seen later at the Durand-Ruel
exhibition, were challenging canvases and not his
best by a long way. But the large "Crucifixion"
shown at the New Society the preceding year,
while being the most provocative piece he evcr
painted, comes under another heading. It was
hailed with a storm of criticism in which harsh
words were mingled; but there is every possibility
that this painting will go down to posterity as one
of the greatest of his works. Underneath the
handling of this gigantic theme which has led the
greatest painters of every epoch of European art
to their highest efforts was Bellows' deep rever-
ence and admiration for the few men of the past
who made up his particular Pantheon. It must
have been with the names of Titian, Tintoretto,
Rembrandt and Velasquez on his lips that he set
forth on this unusual undertaking; for in it he
has not only produced one of the most arresting
compositions he ever made but he also went
deeper into the matter of technical research than
ever before, finding out new levels of loaded
whites and thinly wrought halftones, new dy-
namics of light and new depths of shade. It was
this reaching of his Rubicon of chiaroscuro that
led the way straight on into the flowering fields of
color in which he passed one glorious summer
before the end came. With Bellows' return to his
Woodstock studio the summer after the "Cruci-
fixion" was shown the flowering of his long latent
color sense began. The fondest Bellows enthusiast
was hardly prepared for the brilliantly colored
canvases which were later assembled in the
Durand-Ruel exhibition. Here the deep greens
eighty-four
MAY 1925
ELEANOR, JEAN AND ANNA Courtesy oj Mrs. George Bellows BY GEORGE BELLOWS
There was also in Bellows something of the
showman which led to the production of occasional
so-called "Academy" pictures, wherein he pal-
pably set out to make a stir. Usually he succeeded
and his yearly offering at the New Society was
invariably a bone of pictorial contention. The
"Two Women," shown at the last convention of
that society at the Anderson Galleries, and his
large "Nude," seen later at the Durand-Ruel
exhibition, were challenging canvases and not his
best by a long way. But the large "Crucifixion"
shown at the New Society the preceding year,
while being the most provocative piece he evcr
painted, comes under another heading. It was
hailed with a storm of criticism in which harsh
words were mingled; but there is every possibility
that this painting will go down to posterity as one
of the greatest of his works. Underneath the
handling of this gigantic theme which has led the
greatest painters of every epoch of European art
to their highest efforts was Bellows' deep rever-
ence and admiration for the few men of the past
who made up his particular Pantheon. It must
have been with the names of Titian, Tintoretto,
Rembrandt and Velasquez on his lips that he set
forth on this unusual undertaking; for in it he
has not only produced one of the most arresting
compositions he ever made but he also went
deeper into the matter of technical research than
ever before, finding out new levels of loaded
whites and thinly wrought halftones, new dy-
namics of light and new depths of shade. It was
this reaching of his Rubicon of chiaroscuro that
led the way straight on into the flowering fields of
color in which he passed one glorious summer
before the end came. With Bellows' return to his
Woodstock studio the summer after the "Cruci-
fixion" was shown the flowering of his long latent
color sense began. The fondest Bellows enthusiast
was hardly prepared for the brilliantly colored
canvases which were later assembled in the
Durand-Ruel exhibition. Here the deep greens
eighty-four
MAY 1925