George Bellows at Auction Part II

Throughout his childhood in Columbus, Ohio, George Bellows divided much of his time between sports and art. While attending Ohio State University, he created illustrations for the school yearbook and played varsity baseball and basketball. After college Bellows rejected an offer for a professional athletic career with the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, instead pursuing a career as an artist.

In opposition to his father's wishes, Bellows enrolled in the New York School of Art in 1904. There Bellows elected to study not with the popular and flamboyant William Merritt Chase, but rather with the unorthodox realist Robert Henri. Henri led a radical group of artists, including John Sloan and William Glackens, who exhibited under the name "The Eight." Although Bellows was elected to the National Academy of Design, he rejected the superficial portrayal of everyday life promoted by the academies. Instead he and his colleagues emphasized the existing social conditions of the early twentieth century, especially in New York. Because their subjects were considered crude and at times even vulgar, critics dubbed them the Ashcan school. Bellows never became an official member of The Eight, but his choice of subjects--docks, street scenes, and prizefights--were typical of the group.

Unlike the members of The Eight, Bellows' enjoyed popular success during his lifetime, particularly with the boxing images that demonstrate his passionate interest in sports and a bold understanding of the human figure.

Sotheby's 17 MAY 2012

GEORGE BELLOWS 1882 - 1925

TENNIS AT NEWPORT

Estimate 5,000,000 — 7,000,000 LOT SOLD 7,026,500

Tennis at Newport is one of only four depictions of the sport that George Bellows painted, two of which are in major museum collections. The canvas shows a tennis match on the iconic horse-shoe grass court at the Newport Casino, which Bellows visited in 1919 while summering with his wife in Middletown, Rhode Island. Inspired by the sport and the elegant crowd, the artist painted two scenes of the tournament in 1919, one of which is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. Unsatisfied with the composition, he then completed two new works in 1920 – one of which is the present painting, while the other is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 Doyle New York November 8, 2011

Doyle New York was honored to auction Prints and Books from The Creekmore and Adele Fath Charitable Foundation Collection of Austin, Texas on November 8, 2011. This important single-owner sale brings together Mr. Fath's two most enduring passions -- politics and art.

The sale included