Existing comment:
George Bellows
Shipyard Society, 1916
A realist painter celebrated for his forceful depictions of urban life -- from street and park scenes to the gritty world of boxing -- Bellows, like many of his New York colleagues, spent summers in cooler climes, usually by the sea. In 1916 he traveled to Camden, Maine, where he encountered a new subject; Shipyard Society is one of five works Bellows painted on the theme of shipbuilding.
The 1914 outbreak of World War I in Europe had been a boon to Maine shipbuilding and the industry's physical and social dimensions were an irresistible draw for the artist. Explaining this appeal in the rhetoric or wartime patriotism, Bellow spoke of the shipbuilder's noble craft and its impact of his imagination. Yet this engaging painting is as concerned with the spectacle of the construction effort as with the physical work itself. The cast of multigenerational characters -- conversing, flirting, scratching -- introduces a sense of warmth and humor to the scene. |