Live Auction 20978American Art
GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS (1882-1925)
Lot 31 Property from a Prominent Private Collection

GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS (1882-1925)

Paradise Point

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USD 189,000

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GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS (1882-1925)
Paradise Point
signed 'Geo Bellows' (lower right)—signed again and inscribed with title (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.9 cm.)
Painted in 1919.

The artist.
Estate of the above.
Emma S. Bellows, wife of the artist.
Estate of the above.
H.V. Allison & Co., New York.
Alfredo Valente, New York, 1964.
Samuel Porter, Great Neck, New York, 1965.
Terry DeLapp Galleries, Los Angeles, California.
Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, by 1985.
Frank J. Hevrdejs, Houston, Texas.
Godel & Co., New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2006.

Specialist note

George Bellows painted Paradise Point in Middletown, Rhode Island located east of Newport—where the Bellows family spent the summers of 1918 and 1919. Bellows’ time in Rhode Island resulted in some of his most important paintings of the Newport Casino including Tennis at Newport (1919, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and Tennis Tournament (1920, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.).

Depicting a lone figure journeying to the sea, Bellows paints Paradise Point with a birds eye perspective, using thick, colorful brushstrokes which yield a luscious surface. The present work also recalls the artist’s expressive paintings of the Maine Coast where he summered from 1911-1916. Michael Quick explains, “Bellows was not ready to abandon direct painting in 1919…The strong color and richly varied paint textures of works such as Paradise Point…recall his spirited landscapes of the last extended campaign, in 1916…” (The Paintings of George Bellows, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1992, p. 67)