COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
WMAA.31.95
AMICA Library Year:
2001
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
Bellows, George Wesley
Creator Role:
Artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1882-1925
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
George Bellows
Title:
Dempsey and Firpo
Title Type:
Title
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1924
Creation Start Date:
1924
Creation End Date:
1924
Materials and Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
51 x 63 1/4 in. (129.54 x 160.66 cm.)
Component Measured:
Object
Measurement Dimension:
Height
Measurement Value:
129.54
Measurement Unit:
cm
Component Measured:
Object
Measurement Dimension:
Width
Measurement Value:
160.66
Measurement Unit:
cm
Measurement Unit:
cm
AMICA Contributor:
Whitney Museum of American Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
31.95
Credit Line:
Purchase, with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Context - Date:
1924 - 1924
Context - Person:
Bellows George
Context - Person:
Whitney Gertrude Vanderbilt
Context:
Between 1907 and 1924, George Bellows used the prizefight as the subject of six major oil paintings and numerous related drawings and prints. Dempsey and Firpo was his final exploration of this theme. He remarked of the subject in general: 'I am just painting two men trying to kill each other.' Assigned to illustrate the fight for the New York Evening Journal, Bellows - and a crowd of 90,000 - attended the event of on September 14, 1923, at New York's Polo Grounds. Among the most famous matches of the century, the bout was short and dramatic. In the first of its two rounds, Dempsey, having knocked his Argentine challenger to the floor seven times, was himself sent through the ropes. As Bellows, sitting in the front row press area, described it: 'When Dempsey was knocked through the ropes he fell in my lap. I cursed him a bit and placed him carefully back in the ring with instructions to be of good cheer.' Although Dempsey went on to victory by a knockout in the second round, Bellows chose this earlier episode for the newspaper illustration (which never ran, owing to a printers' strike). A pair of prints, preparatory sketches, and this painting was made the following summer. According to his biographer, the artist's bald head can be seen at the extreme left, though recent scholarship suggests Bellows could be where he said he was, at the center, pushing Dempsey back into action. Only seven months after finishing Dempsey and Firpo, Bellows died at forty-two, at the height of his fame. The painting was acquired from the artist's widow, Emma, in 1931 for $18,500, the most expensive American work purchased by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney up to that time.
Context - Date:
1985
Context - Person:
Patterson Sims
Context - Place:
Catalog: 'Whitney Museum of American Art: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection'
Context - Place:
Publisher: Catalog: Whitney Museum of American Art
Exhibition History:
The Paintings of George Bellows
Exhibition History:
(1) "American Art 1900-1940: A History Reconsidered"
Exhibition History:
(2)American Art, 1900-1940: A History Reconsidered
Exhibition History:
"An American Story"
Exhibition History:
Leonard & Evelyn Lauder Galleries
Exhibition History:
The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000 (Part I)
Exhibition History:
Highlights from the Permanent Collection: From Hopper to Mid-Century
Exhibition History:
George Bellows and His Circle at Woodstock
Related Multimedia Description:
Antenna Audio: Permanent Collection Tour
Related Image Identifier Link:
WMAA.00377.tif
