Three Children

Exactly 133 years ago George Bellows, one of America’s finest painters of the early 20th century was born. As an American Realist Painter he was known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, he also excelled at painting landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and is perhaps most famous for his grim paintings of boxing matches. He was also an important lithographer. His achievement was memorable, and his untimely death deprived us of a major painter at his apogee. When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced.

An intimate aura suffuses the picture, and the lush green landscape even envelops the rocky foreground outcropping which is the stage for three children and a dog. The girls are his daughters, Anne and Jean, and the boy was Joseph Carr, son of a local farmer. Although Bellows was very much involved with portraiture during this summer, the children are not portraits but simply quiet figures in a strong light.