|
|
|
|
Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Name: Bellows, George Wesley Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: 1882-1925 Gender: M Creator Name-CRT: George Bellows Title: Dempsey and Firpo Title Type: Title View: Full View Creation Start Date: 1924 Creation End Date: 1924 Creation Date: 1924 Object Type: Paintings Materials and Techniques: oil on canvas Dimensions: 51 x 63 1/4 in. (129.54 x 160.66 cm.) AMICA Contributor: Whitney Museum of American Art Owner Location: New York, New York, USA ID Number: 31.95 Credit Line: Purchase, with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Rights: http://www.whitney.org/information/rights.shtml Context - Person: Bellows George Context - Person: Whitney Gertrude Vanderbilt Context - Date: 1924 - 1924 Context: Between 1907 and 1924, George Bellows used the prizefight as the subject of six major oil paintings and numerous related drawings and prints. Dempsey and Firpo was his final exploration of this theme. He remarked of the subject in general: 'I am just painting two men trying to kill each other.' Assigned to illustrate the fight for the New York Evening Journal, Bellows - and a crowd of 90,000 - attended the event of on September 14, 1923, at New York's Polo Grounds. Among the most famous matches of the century, the bout was short and dramatic. In the first of its two rounds, Dempsey, having knocked his Argentine challenger to the floor seven times, was himself sent through the ropes. As Bellows, sitting in the front row press area, described it: 'When Dempsey was knocked through the ropes he fell in my lap. I cursed him a bit and placed him carefully back in the ring with instructions to be of good cheer.' Although Dempsey went on to victory by a knockout in the second round, Bellows chose this earlier episode for the newspaper illustration (which never ran, owing to a printers' strike). A pair of prints, preparatory sketches, and this painting was made the following summer. According to his biographer, the artist's bald head can be seen at the extreme left, though recent scholarship suggests Bellows could be where he said he was, at the center, pushing Dempsey back into action. Only seven months after finishing Dempsey and Firpo, Bellows died at forty-two, at the height of his fame. The painting was acquired from the artist's widow, Emma, in 1931 for $18,500, the most expensive American work purchased by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney up to that time. Context - Person: Patterson Sims Context - Date: 1985 Context - Place: Catalog: 'Whitney Museum of American Art: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection' Context - Place: Publisher: Catalog: Whitney Museum of American Art Exhibition History: The Paintings of George Bellows Exhibition History: (1) "American Art 1900-1940: A History Reconsidered" Exhibition History: (2)American Art, 1900-1940: A History Reconsidered Exhibition History: "An American Story" Exhibition History: Leonard & Evelyn Lauder Galleries Exhibition History: The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000 (Part I) Exhibition History: Highlights from the Permanent Collection: From Hopper to Mid-Century Exhibition History: George Bellows and His Circle at Woodstock Related Multimedia Description: Antenna Audio: Permanent Collection Tour Link to Multimedia: WMAA.AA200101.13.mp3 AMICA ID: WMAA.31.95 Component Measured: object Measurement Dimension: height Measurement Value: 129.54 Measurement Unit: cm Measurement Dimension: width Measurement Value: 160.66 AMICA Library Year: 2001 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright Whitney Museum of American Art AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
| Subscribe
| Preview
| Benefits
| About
| Help
| Contact |
