id: 115869
accession number: 1936.580
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1936.580
updated: 2023-03-07 15:13:20.417000
Solitude, 1917. George Bellows (American, 1882–1925). Lithograph; platemark: 43.3 x 39 cm (17 1/16 x 15 3/8 in.); sheet: 60.8 x 54.7 cm (23 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1936.580
title: Solitude
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1917
creation date earliest: 1917
creation date latest: 1917
current location:
creditline: Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
copyright:
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: lithograph
department: Prints
collection: PR - Lithograph
type: Print
find spot:
catalogue raisonne: Mason 37
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CREATORS
* George Bellows (American, 1882–1925) - artist
An accomplished athlete, George Bellows (1882–1925) was an especially appropriate artist to address the subject of sports. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he played baseball and basketball as a youth, developing sufficient ability to letter in both at Ohio State University. According to some accounts, scouts for the Cincinnati Reds took notice of his shortstop talents. However, Bellows’s first love, art, ultimately intervened, and after his junior year he relocated to New York to study painting. In a remarkably short period he became the leading artist of his generation, a reputation fueled through boxing subjects such as Stag at Sharkey’s. In his later years he developed recreational passions for tennis and billiards, which he routinely played with friends. Bellows’s life was cut short at the age of 42, due to complications after his appendix ruptured.
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measurements: Platemark: 43.3 x 39 cm (17 1/16 x 15 3/8 in.); Sheet: 60.8 x 54.7 cm (23 15/16 x 21 9/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: In graphite, lower left, recto: "No 20"
translation:
remark:
inscription: In graphite, center, recto: "Solitude"
translation:
remark:
inscription: In graphite, lower right, recto: "Geo. Bellows"
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900-1940
opening date: 2021-07-18T04:00:00
Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-December 26, 2021).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
The benches in this image are a specific type called the “Central Park settee.”
digital description:
In addition to leisure and recreation, city parks provided a place where couples could spend time together away from families and crowded apartments. Emphasizing the murky black of the night, George Bellows used tusche, a greasy ink, layered over lithographic crayon to create the mood of this print of park benches full of couples too absorbed in each other to notice anyone around them. A solitary man along the left edge is both physically and psychologically isolated from the others. Bellows often placed observers in his prints to suggest a connection between them and the viewer.
wall description:
In addition to leisure and recreation, city parks provided a place where couples could spend time together away from families and crowded apartments. Emphasizing the murky black of the night, George Bellows used tusche, a greasy ink, layered over lithographic crayon to create the mood of this print of park benches full of couples too absorbed in each other to notice anyone around them. A solitary man along the left edge is both physically and psychologically isolated from the others. Bellows often placed observers in his prints to suggest a connection between them and the viewer.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Peters, Emily J. “People Watching: Curator Emily Peters introduces the upcoming show featuring artists of the early 20th-century Ashcan School.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): 27-29.
page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 28.
url:
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IMAGES