River-front

Bellows, George, 1882-1925 · 1923–1924

East River, New York City. A favourite theme for both paintings and lithographs. (Bellows) / The river theme appeared repeatedly throughout the artist's career. The earliest painting on the subject, "River Rats," was done in 1906, just two years after Bellows arrived in New York. The lithograph, with its reversed image, is more formally structured. "River-Front" is one of the numerous works obviously influenced by Bellows dedication to Jay Hambidge's theory of Dynamic Symmetry that Charles H. Morgan described as "a series of geometric formulae governing the relationship of squares and rectangles within a composition." The vertically of the boy in the center is heightened by the lone building. The tugboat stretches the horizontal line formed by the dock. Two sails complete the triangle. "River-Front" is less realistic than "Splinter Beach" (M. 28); when the artist returned to the scene he had described earlier as "bathing urchins under the Brooklyn Bridge," he concentrated on geometry rather than on humanity. (Mason)