Excavation at Night

Artist George Wesley Bellows (1882 - 1925)

Date1908

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions34 x 44 in. (86.4 x 111.8 cm)
Framed: 45 in. × 54 7/8 in. × 2 7/8 in.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.77

Signedl.r., in red paint: Geo Bellows

Accession number 2010.77

On View

On view

ProvenanceEstate of the Artist, 1925; to Emma Story Bellows [1884-1959] (Artist's wife), New York, NY, 1925; to Estate of Emma Story Bellows, 1959; (H.V. Allison & Co., New York, NY); Albert L. Sylvester [1903-1973] and Elizabeth E. Sylvester, Boston, MA, 1961; to Estate of Elizabeth E. Sylvester, by 1976. (Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, NY), by 1992; to (Sotheby's, Inc., New York, NY), 2004; purchased by a private foundation for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2004
Label TextGeorge Bellows was attracted to gritty urban scenes. He painted several images of the construction site of Pennsylvania Station in New York. In this night scene, the cavernous excavation pit is deeper than the height of the dimly lit tenement buildings surrounding its edge. In the foreground, a small campfire sends sparks into the night air. While this project led to faster, safer travel, the construction displaced thousands of poor and working-class families.

George Bellows sentía cierta atracción por los paisajes urbanos reales. Pintó varias imágenes de zonas de construcción de la Estación Pennsylvania en Nueva York. En esta escena nocturna, la cavernosa fosa de excavación es más profunda que el edificio de apartamentos pobremente iluminado que se alza en la esquina. Una pequeña fogata en primer plano, lanza chispas al aire de la noche. A pesar de que este proyecto logró que las personas viajaran con mayor rapidez y seguridad, también es cierto que la construcción desplazó a miles de familias pobres y de clase trabajadora.

Inscribedverso, on canvas, in black paint: EXCAVATION / AT NIGHT / Geo Bellows / 1947 / B'DWAY / N.Y.