Cleaning Fish
Artist
George Wesley Bellows
(American, 1882 - 1925)
Date1913
MediumOil on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 13 1/4 × 19 1/2 inches (33.66 × 49.53 cm)
Framed: 20 1/4 × 26 5/8 inches (51.44 × 67.63 cm)
Framed: 20 1/4 × 26 5/8 inches (51.44 × 67.63 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Logan Clendening through the Friends of Art
Object number47-31
SignedSigned lower left: Geo Bellows—
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionIn foreground, two men by seashore before large table cleaning fish; to their right is another man bending over a barrel; a fourth man at right leans against side of a boat; sea gulls fly over water in middleground; cliff in background, large clouds in sky.Gallery LabelCleaning Fish was one of more than 100 small yet powerful works George Bellows painted outdoors on Monhegan Island, off the Maine coast, in the summer of 1913. The artist's vigorous brushwork gives the painting the air of a sketch. Yet the composition, with the figures arranged across the foreground like a classical frieze, gives this modest panel a monumental quality. Cleaning Fish celebrates labor, both of Bellows' own work as an artist and of the fishermen, whom he also admired for their ruggedness and connection with their wild environment.
From 1904 Bellows lived primarily in New York, where he typically painted images of street children and monumental paintings of prize fighting.
From 1904 Bellows lived primarily in New York, where he typically painted images of street children and monumental paintings of prize fighting.
Record Book A, Jean Bellows Booth, 163; “Art Notes: Paintings by
George Bellows and Charles Ebert in Galleries,” New York Times,
23 January 1914, 10; “Art Notes,” New York Evening Post, 24 January 1914, 8; Charles L. Buchanan, “George Bellows: Painter of
Democracy,” Arts and Decoration 4 (August 1914), 373; clipping,
c. 1915–20, NAMA curatorial fi les (as Fishermen and Gulls); C. G.
Sloan & Company, Washington, D.C., 6–9 January 1925, 32 (as The
Fish Cleaners); American Art Sales 5 (April 1925), 11–12 (as The
Fish Cleaners); Emma S. Bellows, The Paintings of George Bellows
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929), unpaginated, pl. 44 (as Cleaning Fish, Monhegan Island); “George Wesley Bellows—Painter and
Graver, 1882–1925,” Index of Twentieth Century Artists 1 (March
1934), 87; “Art: Five Centuries of Painting at the Kansas City Art
Institute,” [1935], clipping, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives; NAMA
1959, 255; NAMA 1973, 250; Nicholas S. Pickard, “The Friends
of Art of the Nelson- Atkins Museum: A History,” typescript, 1981,
Spencer Art Reference Library, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, B2;
Linda Walgate Bitley and Patricia Phagan, George Bellows: The
Personal Side, exh. cat. (Macon, Ga.: Museum of Arts and Sciences,
1984), 10, 39, fig. 26 (as Cleaning Fish, Monhegan Island); Henry
Adams, George Bellows: An American Master, exh. cat. (Kansas
City, Mo.: Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art, 1991), 4; NAMA 1991,
141–42; Michael Quick et al., The Paintings of George Bellows,
exh. cat. (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum; New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1992), 42–43, 155, fig. 28; Jane Curtis, Will Curtis, and
Frank Lieberman, Monhegan: The Artists’ Island (Camden, Me.:
Down East Books, 1995), 142; Jessica F. Nicoll, The Allure of the
Maine Coast: Robert Henri and His Circle, 1903–1918, exh. cat.
(Portland, Me.: Portland Museum of Art, 1995), 24.
George Bellows and Charles Ebert in Galleries,” New York Times,
23 January 1914, 10; “Art Notes,” New York Evening Post, 24 January 1914, 8; Charles L. Buchanan, “George Bellows: Painter of
Democracy,” Arts and Decoration 4 (August 1914), 373; clipping,
c. 1915–20, NAMA curatorial fi les (as Fishermen and Gulls); C. G.
Sloan & Company, Washington, D.C., 6–9 January 1925, 32 (as The
Fish Cleaners); American Art Sales 5 (April 1925), 11–12 (as The
Fish Cleaners); Emma S. Bellows, The Paintings of George Bellows
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929), unpaginated, pl. 44 (as Cleaning Fish, Monhegan Island); “George Wesley Bellows—Painter and
Graver, 1882–1925,” Index of Twentieth Century Artists 1 (March
1934), 87; “Art: Five Centuries of Painting at the Kansas City Art
Institute,” [1935], clipping, Scrapbook, NAMA Archives; NAMA
1959, 255; NAMA 1973, 250; Nicholas S. Pickard, “The Friends
of Art of the Nelson- Atkins Museum: A History,” typescript, 1981,
Spencer Art Reference Library, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, B2;
Linda Walgate Bitley and Patricia Phagan, George Bellows: The
Personal Side, exh. cat. (Macon, Ga.: Museum of Arts and Sciences,
1984), 10, 39, fig. 26 (as Cleaning Fish, Monhegan Island); Henry
Adams, George Bellows: An American Master, exh. cat. (Kansas
City, Mo.: Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art, 1991), 4; NAMA 1991,
141–42; Michael Quick et al., The Paintings of George Bellows,
exh. cat. (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum; New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1992), 42–43, 155, fig. 28; Jane Curtis, Will Curtis, and
Frank Lieberman, Monhegan: The Artists’ Island (Camden, Me.:
Down East Books, 1995), 142; Jessica F. Nicoll, The Allure of the
Maine Coast: Robert Henri and His Circle, 1903–1918, exh. cat.
(Portland, Me.: Portland Museum of Art, 1995), 24.
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