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Lot Essay
One of the last New York scenes started by George Bellows, Summer Fantasy celebrates one of his favorite themes, New York City. Born in 1882 into late-Victorian middle-class prosperity, New York City was the antithesis to Bellow's provincial hometown and virtuous upbringing. The flurry of activity of urban America dazzled Bellows. "He marveled at the 'appeal of a particular type of dauntless power' that seemed to pervade every moving thing in the city, from the laboring vessels in its harbor to the wind and the lights." (M. Doezema, George Bellows and Urban America, New Haven, Connecticut, 1992, p. 10)
In his quest to capture the essence of New York City, Bellows explored the side streets, docks, train stations and shantytowns, resulting in a group of early works closely identified with the surging vitality of industrialization and urbanization. Bellows was drawn not only to the gritty aspects of city life but also to the more poetic elements. He often focused on the edges of the urban environment, depicting views from Riverside Park across the Hudson towards the Palisades. "Riverside Park exemplified the modern aspects of life in this twentieth century city. The park was new and a particular object of civic pride. But it was more than just new: it was distinctly marked by the modern age, in the form of the railroad. Furthermore, the park itself was a slice of land strategically situated at the junction not only of the city and the Hudson, a major commercial thoroughfare, but also Manhattan and suburban regions to the north. The city side park, along the Riverside Drive, was a site of rapid change and development. Such an area would naturally have attracted the attention of seekers after the new, the dynamic, the pulse points of urban energy." (George Bellows and Urban America, p. 62) Bellows' Hudson River views reflect a more congenial side of New York City, but both subjects exemplify the modern aspects of urban life, culminating in a series of New York scenes that illustrate the multi-faceted nature of the urban landscape.
In Summer Fantasy, painted in 1924, Bellows returns to the Hudson River landscapes that were his focus in the first decade of the twentieth century. The divergence from his earlier landscapes is the mysteriously idyllic atmosphere he creates, similar to the mood of The White Horse (Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts), painted in 1922. He incorporates several isolated scenes to form a collage, further emphasizing the 'larger than life' vision of the ideal day. The groupings of figures in the foreground, the horses on the bridle path, sailboats along the Hudson and the Palisades in the distance intensify the activity in the landscape, creating a dream like quality, ". . .imparting no sense of a particular moment representing the continuum of experience." (J. Keny, Brief Garland: A Life of George Bellows, Timeline, Oct.-Dec. 1992, p.37)
Bathed in the warm golden light reflecting off the Hudson, the composition successfully captures the late afternoon atmosphere. The light green and brown tones of the grass and mountains beyond suggest late summer, when the lush greens and deep blues are slowly conceding to the tinge of autumn. "The last five years of his life were the most fruitful for George Bellows, as the reckless emotionalism of the War passed and his art assumed a firmer maturity and power. Bellows, who had never been particularly strong as a colorist, limiting his palette to a range that verged at times on monochrome, began to reveal a greater command of color, with passages that fairly sing in their tonal harmonics." (P. Boswell, Jr., George Bellows, New York, 1942, p. 20) The rapid alternation of light and dark patches give the landscape a sense of movement and plasticity. His use of shadow also enhances the effect of atmosphere and depth. "Bellows used long, late-afternoon shadows as forceful projections of space into separate registers parallel to the picture plane, give the impressions of perspective lines as they follow the system's diagonals...The shadows have one further function: they lend a greater plasticity to the flat planes by breaking them, giving them a somewhat corrugated appearance..." (M. Quick,The Paintings of George Bellows, New York, 1992, p. 74)
The figures in Summer Fantasy are graceful, simplified almost to the point of abstraction. The groups of stationary foreground figures are set in a dream-like landscape dominated by rolling hills and looming horizons. These later works represent a shift in Bellows' late landscapes toward a highly subjective, almost preternatural vision of the world, in which nature is charged with the same sort of energy and drama found earlier in Bellow's sporting and urban subjects.
This work was painted in 1924 in New York City.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being prepared by Glenn C. Peck in cooperation with the artist's daughter and grandchildren.
In his quest to capture the essence of New York City, Bellows explored the side streets, docks, train stations and shantytowns, resulting in a group of early works closely identified with the surging vitality of industrialization and urbanization. Bellows was drawn not only to the gritty aspects of city life but also to the more poetic elements. He often focused on the edges of the urban environment, depicting views from Riverside Park across the Hudson towards the Palisades. "Riverside Park exemplified the modern aspects of life in this twentieth century city. The park was new and a particular object of civic pride. But it was more than just new: it was distinctly marked by the modern age, in the form of the railroad. Furthermore, the park itself was a slice of land strategically situated at the junction not only of the city and the Hudson, a major commercial thoroughfare, but also Manhattan and suburban regions to the north. The city side park, along the Riverside Drive, was a site of rapid change and development. Such an area would naturally have attracted the attention of seekers after the new, the dynamic, the pulse points of urban energy." (George Bellows and Urban America, p. 62) Bellows' Hudson River views reflect a more congenial side of New York City, but both subjects exemplify the modern aspects of urban life, culminating in a series of New York scenes that illustrate the multi-faceted nature of the urban landscape.
In Summer Fantasy, painted in 1924, Bellows returns to the Hudson River landscapes that were his focus in the first decade of the twentieth century. The divergence from his earlier landscapes is the mysteriously idyllic atmosphere he creates, similar to the mood of The White Horse (Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts), painted in 1922. He incorporates several isolated scenes to form a collage, further emphasizing the 'larger than life' vision of the ideal day. The groupings of figures in the foreground, the horses on the bridle path, sailboats along the Hudson and the Palisades in the distance intensify the activity in the landscape, creating a dream like quality, ". . .imparting no sense of a particular moment representing the continuum of experience." (J. Keny, Brief Garland: A Life of George Bellows, Timeline, Oct.-Dec. 1992, p.37)
Bathed in the warm golden light reflecting off the Hudson, the composition successfully captures the late afternoon atmosphere. The light green and brown tones of the grass and mountains beyond suggest late summer, when the lush greens and deep blues are slowly conceding to the tinge of autumn. "The last five years of his life were the most fruitful for George Bellows, as the reckless emotionalism of the War passed and his art assumed a firmer maturity and power. Bellows, who had never been particularly strong as a colorist, limiting his palette to a range that verged at times on monochrome, began to reveal a greater command of color, with passages that fairly sing in their tonal harmonics." (P. Boswell, Jr., George Bellows, New York, 1942, p. 20) The rapid alternation of light and dark patches give the landscape a sense of movement and plasticity. His use of shadow also enhances the effect of atmosphere and depth. "Bellows used long, late-afternoon shadows as forceful projections of space into separate registers parallel to the picture plane, give the impressions of perspective lines as they follow the system's diagonals...The shadows have one further function: they lend a greater plasticity to the flat planes by breaking them, giving them a somewhat corrugated appearance..." (M. Quick,The Paintings of George Bellows, New York, 1992, p. 74)
The figures in Summer Fantasy are graceful, simplified almost to the point of abstraction. The groups of stationary foreground figures are set in a dream-like landscape dominated by rolling hills and looming horizons. These later works represent a shift in Bellows' late landscapes toward a highly subjective, almost preternatural vision of the world, in which nature is charged with the same sort of energy and drama found earlier in Bellow's sporting and urban subjects.
This work was painted in 1924 in New York City.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being prepared by Glenn C. Peck in cooperation with the artist's daughter and grandchildren.