New York
1911
Painter, American, 1882 - 1925

Completed in February 1911, New York is a large, ambitious painting in which George Bellows captures the essence of modern life in New York City. Although the viewer looks uptown toward Madison Square from the intersection of Broadway and 23rd Street, Bellows did not intend to represent a specific, identifiable place in the city. He instead drew on several bustling commercial districts to create an imaginary composite, an impossibly crowded image that would best convey a sense of the city’s frenetic pace.
By assembling all of these diverse elements into one scene, Bellows revolutionized the conventions of the traditional American urban vista and surpassed the efforts of other contemporary urban realists, like Robert Henri and John Sloan. A critic commented that New York is full of “motion, of stirring existence. Trucks are darting through the crowd. Men and women are hurrying across the streets, trolleys are clanging their way in and out, a policeman is keeping people from being run over, you feel the rush, you hear the noise, and you wish you were safely home.”

East Building Ground Level, Gallery 106-B
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 106.7 x 152.4 cm (42 x 60 in.)
framed: 134.6 x 181.8 x 10.1 cm (53 x 71 9/16 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1986.72.1
More About this Artwork

Video: George Bellows's "New York" (ASL)
This video provides an ASL description of George Bellows's painting, New York.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist [1882-1925]; by inheritance to his wife, Emma S. Bellows [1884-1959]; her estate; purchased 1961 through (H.V. Allison & Co., New York) by Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1986 to NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1911
Eighty-Sixth Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, March-April 1911, no. 2.
Special Exhibition and Sale of Oil Paintings by George Bellows, Marshall Field & Company, Chicago, October 1911, no. 9.
1912
Paintings by George Bellows, N.A., Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, December 1912, no. 17.
A Catalogue of Paintings by George Bellows, Art Students League of Columbus, Public Library, Columbus, Ohio, November 1912, no. 17, repro.
1913
Gimbel Brothers, New York, 1913 [according to the artist's Record Book].
Special Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows, N.A., Detroit Museum of Art, 1913, no. 17.
1915
A Catalogue of Paintings, Gallery of Fine Arts, Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, 1915, no. 47, repro.
1916
"Los Angeles Circuit", 1916 [according to the artist's Record Book].
1921
Paintings and Drawings by George Bellows, Montross Gallery, New York, 1921, no. 2.
1925
Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by George Wesley Bellows, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, December 1925, no. 5 (travelled to six venues, including Denver, and probably Buffalo, listed separately under 1926 in this exhibition history).
Memorial Exhibition of the Work of George Bellows, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October-November 1925, no. 13, repro.
1926
Memorial Exhibition of the Work of George Bellows, 1882-1925, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1926, no. 5.
1948
Museum of the City of New York, Summer 1948.[1]
1962
Modern American Painting: 1915, The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1962-1963, no. 3, repro.
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1986, unnumbered checklist.
1992
The Paintings of George Bellows, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, 1992-1993, fig. 12.
1995
Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; New-York Historical Society, 1995-1996, unnumbered catalogue, figs. 1 and 82, frontispiece (shown only in Washington).
1997
George Bellows: Love of Winter, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; The Newark Museum; Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, 1997-1998, no. 21, fig. 38.
1999
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no catalogue.
2005
Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown; Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2005-2007, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 200.
2012
George Bellows, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2012-2013, pl. 24.
2013
George Bellows and the American Experience, Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, 2013-2014, no catalogue.
Bibliography
1965
Morgan, Charles H. George Bellows. Painter of America. New York, 1965: 129-130, 132, repro. 328.
1971
Braider, Donald. George Bellows and the Ashcan School of Painting. New York, 1971: 69.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 168, repro.
1990
Kelly, Frankin. "George Bellows' Shore House." Studies in the History of Art 37 (1990): 131, repro. no. 20.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 30, repro.
Quick, Michael, Jane Myers, Marianne Doezema, and Franklin Kelly. The Paintings of George Bellows. Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, 1992-1993. New York, 1992: 21, 31, 33, 42, 97, 111-114, fig. 12.
1997
Setford, David, and John Wilmerding. George Bellows: Love of Winter. Exh. cat. Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; The Newark Museum, New Jersey; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, 1997: fig. 3, no. 21.
2001
Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 2-3, 206, color repro.
2004
Newman, Sarah. "George Bellows's New York and the Spectacular Reality of the City." American Art 18, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 92-99, color fig. 1.
2006
Zurier, Rebecca. Picture the City: Urban Vision and the Ashcan School. Berkeley, 2006: 32-33, 56, pl. 2.
2007
Haverstock, Mary Sayre. George Bellows: An Artist in Action. Columbus, Ohio, 2007: 70, color repro.
2009
Peck, Glenn C. George Bellows' Catalogue Raisonné. H.V. Allison & Co., 2009. Online resource, URL: http://www.hvallison.com. Accessed 16 August 2016.
2012
Brock, Charles, et al. George Bellows. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2012-2013. Washington and New York, 2012: 9, 24, 26, 31, 40, 41, 87, 95, 111, pl. 24.
2013
Smith, Roberta. "The Listings: Jan. 25-31." New York Times 162, no. 56,027 (January 25, 2013): C-16, color repro.
McClew, Mason. "George Bellows and the American Experience (Columbus, Ohio)." American Art Review 25, no. 5 (September-October 2013): 133, color ill.
2015
Wolner, Edward W. "George Bellows, Georg Simmel, and Modernizing New York." American Art 29, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 109-113, 120 nn. 8 and 11, color fig. 2.
Inscriptions
across bottom: Geo Bellows; upper left reverse: "NEW YORK" / GEO BELLOWS / 146 E 19 / N.Y.
Wikidata ID
Q20191569