George Bellows

George Bellows, probably one of the most highly regarded American artists, often painted powerful and dynamic boxing matches. His paintings contain many series of such, including the one you see above.

I don't recall exactly how I came to know about his paintings, but I vividly remember my first impression on his work. The words that immediately came to my mind were: boxing, blood, and violent, all of which I strongly dislike. So when a friend of mine suggested that we should go and see the exhibition on George Bellows at the MET, I was less than excited about the plan.  However, his paintings at the MET proved me wrong.   

His powerful, rough, but equally beautiful brush strokes were just mesmerizing. The sense of light against the dark further adds to the sense of dynamic to his paintings. I found that his paintings are not all about violence and blood. They are much more than what I had initially thought. 

Looking at the paintings more closely, I felt a sense of dynamic movement, immediacy due to his particular brush strokes, and beautiful contrast of light and dark. In addition to the paintings of box matches, the exhibition also features some of his beautiful paintings depicting gritty, albeit beautiful scenes of New York City's tenement life. Unfortunately, I did not find his later paintings as much as powerful as his earlier paintings, but it is just a matter of my opinions. The exhibition is at the MET and it is until February 18th. Must see!!