Westward: Stag at Sharkey's

George Bellows


George Bellows, Stag at Starkey's, 1909
Westward
BY REID GUEMMER

As a child I vividly remember a print of this painting hanging in our basement. Despite the violent content, it makes me feel some sort of comfort, given its familiarity.

George Bellows was born and raised in Ohio. He never managed to leave the country, although through much time spent in museums, he managed to achieve an European sort of style. Bellows can be classified as a realist, although throughout his career he experimented with loose brush strokes and color, which placies him in the vicinity of the modernists.

Bellows is primarily known for his various portrayals of New York, whether that be cityscapes or boxers. In this case, it's boxers. Across from his studio was Sharkeys bar, where organized boxing matches would take place in the back room. The matches were illegal, and that is where the name of the painting Stag at Sharkey's, comes into play. "Stags" refers to the illegal fights that went down.

Bellows quickly became a fan and obtained a member to the exclusive group of individuals who viewed these matches.

The angle at which we view the boxers creates the effect that the viewer is a part of the crowd. The peach skin tone of the boxers functions as the light source for the painting, and their sweat glistens in the well-lit ring.

By the end of his career, Bellows was known as one of the most respected American painters of his generation. Before pursuing his career in painting, he was offered an offer to play professional baseball but turned it down. Either way, Bellows would've eventually been seen as an American icon.

  • 7:00 AM

Art is Motion - Stag at Sharkey's

1909
George Bellows, Stag at Sharkey's, 1909
We're at the halfway point now in our exploration of the motion of art. At this time I'd like to say that I struggled with the exact subject of this collection for a good long while. The idea came to me as I poured over the text book, preparing for a dreaded test that never reared its ugly head. As I studied up on my 20th century art, I spotted Bird in Space, and immediately began to plan out an elaborate series on Weightlessness. While that may have been a fun experiment, I felt increasingly limited by the specificity. Motion allows for so much more wiggle room.

Just for the sake of demonstration, let's bring gender into the discussion. What defines movements as inherently masculine or feminine? As cool as George Bellow's Stag at Sharkey's may be, it also happens to serve as a prime example of the distinction in society and art made between the two sexes. Up in the ring, two muscular ferocious men duke it out for glory as anxious gamblers and sports enthusiasts look on,  savoring every blow traded between the two men. The painting practically swings on it's mounting with the final collision between the unstoppable force, and the immovable object, their muscles tightened, their veins popping. It is no surprise that a painting depicting boxing in 1909 lacks a single woman in the mix. However, if the crowd and ring were peeled away, the gloves taken, and features removed from the remaining figures, the genderless forms would still appear to most to carry an air of masculinity.

The problem stems from an association with certain motions and poses with gender. Warrior paintings such as Antonio Canova's Theseus Fighting the Centaur and Stag at Sharkey's depict strong male characters lashing out violently, the beauty of the pieces lying in their brutality. If someone walked up to me and said, "Name the two baddest dudes you know from Art History," I'd immediately jump to those works, but just about anyone could come up with some heroic male figure. But replace "dudes" with "dudettes" and suddenly you've reached an impasse.

 You see, we associate females and art with Mona Lisa and The Birth of Venus, pretty faces that occasionally serve as centerpieces to the action about them. For this reason I hail the subverting force of works such as Munch's Death of Marat and Gentileschi's Judith and Holofernes, which place the power in the hands of the women, and challenge gender norms, as did the women they depict.

  • 12:00 AM