id: 115938
accession number: 1936.642
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1936.642
updated: 2023-08-23 19:46:34.260000
Preliminaries, 1916. George Bellows (American, 1882–1925). Lithograph; image: 40 x 49.6 cm (15 3/4 x 19 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1936.642
title: Preliminaries
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1916
creation date earliest: 1916
creation date latest: 1916
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 24
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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: Image: 40 x 49.6 cm (15 3/4 x 19 1/2 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Stag at Sharkey’s: George Bellows and the Art of Sports
opening date: 2016-05-14T00:00:00
Stag at Sharkey’s: George Bellows and the Art of Sports. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14-September 18, 2016).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH (05/14/2016-09/18/2016): “Stag at Sharkey’s: George Bellows and the Art of Sports”
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
By 1916, the year Bellows created Preliminaries, boxing was legal in New York and had begun attracting audiences beyond its usual working-class, male demographic. Relegating the ensuing match to the background, this print focuses on a group of wealthy spectators who arrive to take their seats in Madison Square Garden. According to the artist’s widow, the subject was occasioned by the first bout in New York to which women were permitted to attend.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
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IMAGES