Having given up his studies at Ohio State University after three years, Bellows arrived in New York in 1904. Under the influence of his teacher, Robert Henri, he devoted himself to recording vignettes of city life. In this, one of his earliest New York scenes, Bellows depicted children feeding the tame swans that inhabited the ponds of Central Park. Thickly applied paint energizes the painting’s surface and anticipates the dashing brushwork that Bellows enlisted for his later views of grittier neighborhoods and their denizens.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Swans in Central Park
Artist:George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York)
Date:1906
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:18 3/8 × 21 3/8 in. (46.7 × 54.3 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Margaret and Raymond J. Horowitz, 2007
Object Number:2007.281.1
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Geo Bellows-
Edward R. Keefe (1906–d.; gift of the artist in 1906; his estate, New London, Conn.); [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1967–68; sold in July 1968 to Horowitz]; Margaret and Raymond J. Horowitz (1968–d. 2005); The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (2005–7; gift to MMA)
New York. Hirschl & Adler Galleries. "American Paintings for Public and Private Collections: An Exhibition of 200 Years of Painting in America Marking the Opening of the Gallery of American Art at the Hirschl & Adler Galleries," December 4, 1967–January 13, 1968, no. 92.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York Collects," July 3–September 2, 1968, no. 3 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Impressionist and Realist Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz," April 19–June 3, 1973, no. 49.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "American Impressionism and Realism: The Margaret and Raymond Horowitz Collection," January 24–May 9, 1999, no. 5.
New York. Hirschl & Adler Galleries. "Celebrating Central Park," May 1–July 3, 2003, unnum. brochure (lent by Margaret and Raymond Horowitz).
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "George Bellows," June 10–October 8, 2012, no. 39.
Charles H. Morgan. George Bellows: "Painter of America". New York, 1965, p. 57, notes that Bellows' "first essay of the [summer 1906] season was a small canvas of swans in the park" (this picture).
Gordon Brown. "Notes on Things American." Arts 42 (December 1967–January 1968), ill. p. 39.
Stuart P. Feld. American Paintings for Public and Private Collections: An Exhibition of 200 Years of Painting in America Marking the Opening of the Gallery of American Art at Hirschl & Adler Galleries. Exh. cat., Hirschl and Adler Galleries. New York, 1967, unpaginated, no. 92, ill., notes that this work was done while Bellows was living in New York and was presented to his roommate and fellow artist Edward Keefe.
Dianne H. Pilgrim. American Impressionist and Realist Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1973, pp. 162–63, no. 49, ill.
Franklin Kelly in Nicolai Cikovsky Jr. American Impressionism and Realism: The Margaret and Raymond Horowitz Collection. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D. C., 1998, pp. 35–37, 180, no. 5, ill. (color) and fig. 2 (installation photo of the artist's studio, ca. 1907–8).
Franklin Kelly in Nicolai Cikovsky Jr. American Impressionism and Realism: The Margaret and Raymond Horowitz Collection. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, DC, 1999, pp. 35–36, fig. 2 (installation photo), ill. p. 37.
David Park Curry inGeorge Bellows. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., 2012, p. 134, colorpl. 39.
Glenn C. Peck. George Bellows' Catalogue Raisonné. Online resource [hvallison.com], [2012], unnumbered, ill. (color).
Notations in the artist's record books indicate this painting was created in July 1906.
George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York)
1917
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