01 Painting, The art of War, George Wesley Bellows' Barricade, with footnotes

George Wesley Bellows, American, 1882 - 1925

Detail; The Barricade

Oil on canvas

48 1/8 x 83 1/2 in. (122.2 x 212.1 cm)

Birmingham Museum of Art 

George Wesley Bellows, American, 1882 - 1925

The Barricade

Oil on canvas

48 1/8 x 83 1/2 in. (122.2 x 212.1 cm)

Birmingham Museum of Art 

In 1918, moved by reports of atrocities committed against civilians during the First World War, Bellows departed from his typical subjects and painted five large-scale canvases to call attention to their plight. The Barricade derives from an incident during the invasion of Belgium in August 1914, when German soldiers used townspeople as a human shield. Bellows presented the victims as nudes, simultaneously underscoring their vulnerability and recalling depictions of martyred saints from the history of art. Because Bellows had not witnessed these events firsthand, the artist Joseph Pennell charged that he had no right to paint them. Bellows replied that he was not aware that Leonardo da Vinci had “had a ticket to paint the Last Supper.” More on this painting

American painter and printmaker George Wesley Bellows played a crucial role in early 20th century American art. He depicted contemporary scenes of everyday life in urban environments through an overtly Realist approach, presenting the realities of tenement life on the Lower East Side, the bristly physicality of men working on the docks, or widely attended popular sporting events. His sudden death from appendicitis at the age of forty-two tragically cut short an impressive, singular career.

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1882, Bellows sustained parallel interests in art and sports, drawing, painting and playing baseball and basketball regularly from a young age. After declining an offer from the Indianapolis baseball team to play professionally, Bellows attended Ohio State University and later moved to New York City to study under Robert Henri and pursue a career as a painter. Within five years, Bellows gained critical and commercial success, exhibiting alongside Ashcan School painters William Glackens and John Sloan and regularly contributing illustrations to popular magazines. His paintings and prints depicting a rough, grimy New York City that was full of life and vitality have become iconic artworks of the early twentieth century. Over time, his work became increasingly politically engaged, as he openly criticized atrocities committed by Germany during World War I, or the bureaucracy and censorship of the United States government. 

The Boston Public Library holds a considerable selection of his prints, while many of his major paintings can be found at the Columbus Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and many other major institutions. More on George Wesley Bellows

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