GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS

George Bellows was a realist with a technique perfectly adapted to his frank impressions. An amateur ballplayer, he maintained a life-long interest in sports, and his paintings of polo matches and prize-fight rings are often considered his finest work. The crowds in attendance at the fights were presented in summary fashion, as they were mere accessories to the main event, but they were not the only crowds Bellows painted. As is evident here, he became singularly expert at conveying the sense of motion of a crowd, in this case a group of elegant New Yorkers enjoying a late afternoon outing in Central Park. In the background is the symbol of the twentieth-century American city: a skyscraper.