id: 115948 accession number: 1936.651 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1936.651 updated: 2023-03-07 15:13:20.968000 Introducing Georges Carpentier, 1921. George Bellows (American, 1882–1925). Lithograph; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1936.651 title: Introducing Georges Carpentier title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1921 creation date earliest: 1921 creation date latest: 1921 current location: creditline: Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. copyright: --- culture: America, 20th century technique: lithograph department: Prints collection: PR - Lithograph type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Mason 98 --- 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. --- measurements: state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The George Wesley Bellows Memorial Exhibition opening date: 1926-02-16T05:00:00 The George Wesley Bellows Memorial Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 16-March 22, 1926). title: George Bellows Prints: Centennial Exhibition opening date: 1982-09-07T04:00:00 George Bellows Prints: Centennial Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7-October 31, 1982). 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 (organizer) (May 14-September 18, 2016). --- 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” --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Promoted as the “battle of the century,” the match between French pugilist Georges Carpentier and American Jack Dempsey took place on July 2, 1921, in Jersey City at an enormous outdoor arena built specifically for the bout. With the First World War fresh in mind, the crowd favored Carpentier, a twice-decorated pilot in the French Air Force, over Dempsey, who was viewed as a draft evader despite having been exonerated of the charge by a jury the previous year. The match ended quickly with a knockout by Dempsey in the fourth round. The event attracted more than 80,000 spectators and generated boxing’s first million-dollar gate. A large contingent of reporters, photographers, and motion picture cameramen—several of whom are gathered on a platform at the upper left—covered the spectacle. Bellows, on assignment for the New York World newspaper to sketch the proceedings, sat in the press section shown in the foreground, although he did not record himself among the excited throng. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES