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Lot Essay
The present work was painted on Monhegan Island, Maine, in October of 1913. George Bellows first traveled to Monhegan during the summer of 1911 at the invitation of Robert Henri. Though only three miles long and one-half mile wide, the isle's raw beauty, dramatic coastline and roiling sea provided the ideal scenery for Bellows’ direct, bravura style. He explored every hill and dale and was captivated by the variety of pictorial possibilities, writing, "The Island is endless in its wonderful variety. It's possessed of enough beauty to supply a continent." (as quoted in S. Cash, "Life at Sea, 1911-1917," in C. Brock, et al., George Bellows, Washington, D.C., 2012, p. 160) Bellows was so inspired by the distinctive character of the topography and its inhabitants that he returned two summers later, painting some of the most visceral depictions of nature of his career. On his first trip to Monhegan, Bellows primarily painted sketches on small panels measuring 11 by 15 inches, which would often provide inspiration for large studio canvases upon his return to New York. When he returned in 1913, Bellows instead chose to work on a larger scale, which still allowed him to carry his easel around the island to work en plein air, but also permitted grander compositions that were final works in their own right. He executed about 100 panels measuring 15 by 20 inches, including the present work. Bellows boasted in a letter to gallerist William Macbeth, "I am…getting some very complete pictures...I am delighted with some of them...These panels are twice as big as the old ones and a long way removed from quick sketches." (as quoted in F. Kelly, "Bellows and the Sea," The Paintings of George Bellows, New York, 1992, p. 152)
While the size of Bellows' compositions became notably larger on the 1913 trip, their scope became much smaller than his earlier panoramic views of the island; as a result, the best of the 1913 panels, including Sunlit Surf, present isolated views of coastline, evocative of the violent seaside but also magnified and cropped almost to the point of abstraction. Sarah Cash expounds, "The crash of surf on rocks...became his favored subject; these dynamically composed views, executed with correspondingly vigorous and loaded brushwork, attest to the continuing influence of [Winslow] Homer, particularly his late seascapes." (as quoted in "Life at Sea, 1911-1917," pp. 161-62) These expressive Monhegan panels, such as Sunlit Surf, "may represent Bellows's purest attempt to isolate natural forces and to suggest through the clashing of rock and sea the ebb and flow of man's eternal struggle with life's challenges." (J.M. Keny, "Brief Garland: A Life of George Bellows," Timeline, vol. IX, nos. 5-6, October-December 1992, p. 25)
While the size of Bellows' compositions became notably larger on the 1913 trip, their scope became much smaller than his earlier panoramic views of the island; as a result, the best of the 1913 panels, including Sunlit Surf, present isolated views of coastline, evocative of the violent seaside but also magnified and cropped almost to the point of abstraction. Sarah Cash expounds, "The crash of surf on rocks...became his favored subject; these dynamically composed views, executed with correspondingly vigorous and loaded brushwork, attest to the continuing influence of [Winslow] Homer, particularly his late seascapes." (as quoted in "Life at Sea, 1911-1917," pp. 161-62) These expressive Monhegan panels, such as Sunlit Surf, "may represent Bellows's purest attempt to isolate natural forces and to suggest through the clashing of rock and sea the ebb and flow of man's eternal struggle with life's challenges." (J.M. Keny, "Brief Garland: A Life of George Bellows," Timeline, vol. IX, nos. 5-6, October-December 1992, p. 25)