Olivia
Artists’ seemingly endless fascination with the human body has given birth to an increasingly authentic portrayal of figure. The ancient Greeks showcased their subjects’ muscular physiques by twisting the body into contrapposto; the Renaissance masters sought to reincorporate man into art as a dignified image of humanity; impressionists like Renoir brought the female body to life in sensual, reclined postures; and realists such as Thomas Eakins portrayed man accomplishing genuine daily activities in a natural demonstration of bodily exertion. Eakins took the brush to the canvas to realize his favorite athletic pastimes—rowing, boxing, sailing. In 1899, Eakins completed Between Rounds, an umber-toned depiction of a wrestler recovering from a strenuous flight while simultaneously preparing for the upcoming battle (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). Committed to authenticity, the artist obscures the scene in a haze reminiscent of the tainted air of a wrestling arena (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). But Eakins places the greatest emphasis not on the emotional realm of the gruesome sport but rather on the physicality of his subjects and the precision of the backdrop.
In 1909, George Bellows animated wrestlers in a very different manner in his Stag at Sharkey’s (The Public Broadcasting Service). Although a mere decade stood between the two paintings in time, the revolutions that shook the art world during the time transformed a society seeking authentic pieces of realism to a populace that valued art charged with emotion, action, and a fundamentally different definition of aesthetic beauty.
George Bellows was an adherent of the Ashcan School (Miller). “The Eight,” or the architects of the new artistic technique, recognized merit in the gritty urban scenes of early 20th century America (Miller). With a potpourri of international immigrants, disintegrating infrastructure, and an absence of privacy, the city’s slums were a far cry from the ideal, cosmopolitan metropolis glorified by earlier paintings (Miller). As artists of the Ashcan School gravitated toward the less refined, more squalid corners of New York, their pieces demanded an fresh artistic vocabulary (Miller). Rather than the unforgivingly scrupulous exactitude of the realists or the soft and emotive wisps of the impressionists, “The Eight” sought a harsh yet evocative mode of representing the urban underbelly, employing rough, loose brushstrokes, deep contrasts, lurid coloring, and sometimes awkward perspectives.
George Bellows, like Eakins, captures the often-bloody sporting event of boxing. Eakins was said to carefully arrange his subject matter in posed positions, an ironic truth given his obsession with verisimilitude (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). Ashcan School artists, antithetically, demanded an end to the carefully composed scenes artists such as Eakins relied upon. Bellows orients the viewer as one of the crowd, peering over the heads of those in the second row of seats (Miller). Unlike in Eakins’s piece, where viewers are disassociated with the scene, as though they are gazing through a window, Bellows’s viewers can almost taste the heat of the action. A sharp contrast differentiates the dark, crowded audience from the glowing fighters. And before the throngs of spectators is not a pugilist at rest; instead, two boxers exchange savage blows. The sharp angles of the fighters’ bodies, made jagged by their flailing limbs, form contradictory lines of motion that impart an impression of chaos (Miller). Bellows’s loose brushstrokes emphasize the action and movement of the piece (Miller). The red highlights further the ferocious mood (Miller). Although the work lacks methodical heed to detail, the blurred faces and undefined boundaries evoke the thrilling exhilaration of the wild match (Miller).
Sharkey’s, the painting’s setting, was an athletic club that, much like the speakeasies of the era, had been ruled illegal. Both the subjects and the artist know the sweet ecstasy of breaking the rules and challenging societal orders. As the spectators in the painting challenge federal law, the artist himself challenges the time-honored laws of artistic composition. Shattering conventional definitions of meritorious subject matter, smashing traditionally flattering techniques, Bellows and his fellow Ashcan School artists gave birth to an utterly unorthodox style. Although Stag at Sharkey’s struck Bellows’s contemporaries as coarse and risqué, the work set a precedent for future endeavors to grapple with the definition and purpose of art. And with new subject matter, art was no longer an amusement for the affluent, it was now intrinsically linked with the common man.
Works Cited“Between Rounds.” 2013. The Philadelphia Museum of Art. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/42496.html>.
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. 393 – 397.
“Stag at Sharkey’s.” The Public Broadcasting Service. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/sta.html>.
Images Cited
“Between Rounds.” 2013. The Philadelphia Museum of Art. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/42496.html>.
“Stag at Sharkey’s.” The Public Broadcasting Service. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/sta.html>.
Artists’ seemingly endless fascination with the human body has given birth to an increasingly authentic portrayal of figure. The ancient Greeks showcased their subjects’ muscular physiques by twisting the body into contrapposto; the Renaissance masters sought to reincorporate man into art as a dignified image of humanity; impressionists like Renoir brought the female body to life in sensual, reclined postures; and realists such as Thomas Eakins portrayed man accomplishing genuine daily activities in a natural demonstration of bodily exertion. Eakins took the brush to the canvas to realize his favorite athletic pastimes—rowing, boxing, sailing. In 1899, Eakins completed Between Rounds, an umber-toned depiction of a wrestler recovering from a strenuous flight while simultaneously preparing for the upcoming battle (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). Committed to authenticity, the artist obscures the scene in a haze reminiscent of the tainted air of a wrestling arena (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). But Eakins places the greatest emphasis not on the emotional realm of the gruesome sport but rather on the physicality of his subjects and the precision of the backdrop.
In 1909, George Bellows animated wrestlers in a very different manner in his Stag at Sharkey’s (The Public Broadcasting Service). Although a mere decade stood between the two paintings in time, the revolutions that shook the art world during the time transformed a society seeking authentic pieces of realism to a populace that valued art charged with emotion, action, and a fundamentally different definition of aesthetic beauty.
George Bellows was an adherent of the Ashcan School (Miller). “The Eight,” or the architects of the new artistic technique, recognized merit in the gritty urban scenes of early 20th century America (Miller). With a potpourri of international immigrants, disintegrating infrastructure, and an absence of privacy, the city’s slums were a far cry from the ideal, cosmopolitan metropolis glorified by earlier paintings (Miller). As artists of the Ashcan School gravitated toward the less refined, more squalid corners of New York, their pieces demanded an fresh artistic vocabulary (Miller). Rather than the unforgivingly scrupulous exactitude of the realists or the soft and emotive wisps of the impressionists, “The Eight” sought a harsh yet evocative mode of representing the urban underbelly, employing rough, loose brushstrokes, deep contrasts, lurid coloring, and sometimes awkward perspectives.
George Bellows, like Eakins, captures the often-bloody sporting event of boxing. Eakins was said to carefully arrange his subject matter in posed positions, an ironic truth given his obsession with verisimilitude (The Philadelphia Museum of Art). Ashcan School artists, antithetically, demanded an end to the carefully composed scenes artists such as Eakins relied upon. Bellows orients the viewer as one of the crowd, peering over the heads of those in the second row of seats (Miller). Unlike in Eakins’s piece, where viewers are disassociated with the scene, as though they are gazing through a window, Bellows’s viewers can almost taste the heat of the action. A sharp contrast differentiates the dark, crowded audience from the glowing fighters. And before the throngs of spectators is not a pugilist at rest; instead, two boxers exchange savage blows. The sharp angles of the fighters’ bodies, made jagged by their flailing limbs, form contradictory lines of motion that impart an impression of chaos (Miller). Bellows’s loose brushstrokes emphasize the action and movement of the piece (Miller). The red highlights further the ferocious mood (Miller). Although the work lacks methodical heed to detail, the blurred faces and undefined boundaries evoke the thrilling exhilaration of the wild match (Miller).
Sharkey’s, the painting’s setting, was an athletic club that, much like the speakeasies of the era, had been ruled illegal. Both the subjects and the artist know the sweet ecstasy of breaking the rules and challenging societal orders. As the spectators in the painting challenge federal law, the artist himself challenges the time-honored laws of artistic composition. Shattering conventional definitions of meritorious subject matter, smashing traditionally flattering techniques, Bellows and his fellow Ashcan School artists gave birth to an utterly unorthodox style. Although Stag at Sharkey’s struck Bellows’s contemporaries as coarse and risqué, the work set a precedent for future endeavors to grapple with the definition and purpose of art. And with new subject matter, art was no longer an amusement for the affluent, it was now intrinsically linked with the common man.
Works Cited“Between Rounds.” 2013. The Philadelphia Museum of Art. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/42496.html>.
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. 393 – 397.
“Stag at Sharkey’s.” The Public Broadcasting Service. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/sta.html>.
Images Cited
“Between Rounds.” 2013. The Philadelphia Museum of Art. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/42496.html>.
“Stag at Sharkey’s.” The Public Broadcasting Service. 23 April 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/sta.html>.