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George Bellows
May Day in Central Park, 1905
George Bellows had been in New York City less than a year when, inspired by his instructor Robert Henri, he painted this picture. May Day festivals in New York City featured schoolgirls dressed in white parading through Central Park's Sheep Meadow. Here, each child holds a rose-red ribbon attached to a central canopy over the veiled May Queen. The group is surrounded by an assortment of onlookers, from two disinterested men smoking cigarettes to other elegantly attired and attentive young ladies. The scene identifies Central Park and specifically the May Day parade with all socioeconomic levels, and includes the diverse group on the same canvas. While other urban realists concentrated on the margins of society, Bellows chose a more democratic purview. |