GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Over his lifetime, George Bellows executed several portraits of his wife, Emma. The painting Emma in a Purple Dress (1956.58) was his last, and the one that took the longest. He spent several years working and reworking the painting, only finishing in 1923, three years after this preliminary drawing was done. Though the basic composition—the dress and position of the body—remained the same, this drawing shows how easily he defined the luxurious dress, which forms such an important part of the rich, painterly impression made by the oil painting. It was the head and expression which Bellows continued to work and rework on the large canvas, and here he avoided the dilemma by placing the figure so the paper ends at her neck.
Adapted from
- William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label copy (1960.124), July 2005.
- Anne R. Bromberg, "Dallas Museum of Art, Selected Works," (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 204.
NOTES
Edit the typos and citation information for the text from Selected Works in text entries.
Added signature information-- Lower right recto: "Geo Bellows/ J.B.B." [Posthumous signature by artist's daughter, Jean Bellows Booth.]
In the future- the bibliography and sources listed in the TMS record for the completed portrait, 1956.58, could be added as bibliographic sources for this object.
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
Routed to Sue and she approved the draft with no revisions. I am removing the routed tag and adding the completed tag because the GDoc has been moved to Queta's folder for review. (2/13/2017)
Emma S. Bellows added as the depicted individual in TMS.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
conté crayon
paper
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
preparatory drawing
chair
sitting
woman
dress
shoes
hands
study
model
wives
RELATED OBJECTS
George Bellows, Emma in a Purple Dress, 1956.58
George Bellows, Emma in a Chair, 1960.125
PROVENANCE
Before d. 1925: George Bellows (1882-1925)
From 1925- Before d. 1959: Emma S. Bellows (1884-1959) [1]
By 1960: H.V. Allison and Co., New York, NY [1]
From 1960: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift from the above [2]
[1] No documentation in the Collections Records Object File deals with the ownership history prior to the work's acquisition by the museum. Based on the history of the artist's estate, this object was likely left to his wife, Emma S. Bellows after George Bellows died in 1925. His widow controlled the estate from 1925 until her death in 1959. H.V. Allison & Co., Inc., New York, NY was the gallery which handled all sales from the estate prior to Mrs. Bellows' death. (This provenance is demonstrated in the records of Emma in a Purple Dress (Dallas Museum of Art, 1956.58). Correspondence between H.V. Allison representatives and Jerry Bywaters, the DMFA director, suggest that this gift was a result of the museum purchasing Emma in a Purple Dress in 1956.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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FUN FACTS
- Emma was thirty-nine and the mother of two girls when Bellows completed his final portrait of his wife, Emma in a Purple Dress (1956.58). Bellows met Emma, who is reported to have been an attractive, spirited woman of strong character, in 1905, and they were married in 1910. The pair met while enrolled in a class taught by Robert Henri at the New York School of Art (formerly the Chase School of Art, named for its founder, William Merritt Chase).
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General Description
Over his lifetime, George Bellows executed several portraits of his wife, Emma. The painting Emma in a Purple Dress (1956.58) was his last, and the one that took the longest. He spent several years working and reworking the painting, only finishing in 1923, three years after this preliminary drawing was done. Though the basic composition—the dress and position of the body—remained the same, this drawing shows how easily he defined the luxurious dress, which forms such an important part of the rich, painterly impression made by the oil painting. It was the head and expression which Bellows continued to work and rework on the large canvas, and here he avoided the dilemma by placing the figure so the paper ends at her neck.
Adapted from
- William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label copy (1960.124), July 2005.
- Anne R. Bromberg, "Dallas Museum of Art, Selected Works," (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 204.
Fun Facts
- Emma was thirty-nine and the mother of two girls when Bellows completed his final portrait of his wife, Emma in a Purple Dress (1956.58). Bellows met Emma, who is reported to have been an attractive, spirited woman of strong character, in 1905, and they were married in 1910. The pair met while enrolled in a class taught by Robert Henri at the New York School of Art (formerly the Chase School of Art, named for its founder, William Merritt Chase).
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Edit the typos and citation information for the text from Selected Works in text entries.
Added signature information-- Lower right recto: "Geo Bellows/ J.B.B." [Posthumous signature by artist's daughter, Jean Bellows Booth.]
In the future- the bibliography and sources listed in the TMS record for the completed portrait, 1956.58, could be added as bibliographic sources for this object.
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
Routed to Sue and she approved the draft with no revisions. I am removing the routed tag and adding the completed tag because the GDoc has been moved to Queta's folder for review. (2/13/2017)
Emma S. Bellows added as the depicted individual in TMS.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
conté crayon
paper
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
preparatory drawing
chair
sitting
woman
dress
shoes
hands
study
model
wives
RELATED OBJECTS
George Bellows, Emma in a Purple Dress, 1956.58
George Bellows, Emma in a Chair, 1960.125
PROVENANCE
Before d. 1925: George Bellows (1882-1925)
From 1925- Before d. 1959: Emma S. Bellows (1884-1959) [1]
By 1960: H.V. Allison and Co., New York, NY [1]
From 1960: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift from the above [2]
[1] No documentation in the Collections Records Object File deals with the ownership history prior to the work's acquisition by the museum. Based on the history of the artist's estate, this object was likely left to his wife, Emma S. Bellows after George Bellows died in 1925. His widow controlled the estate from 1925 until her death in 1959. H.V. Allison & Co., Inc., New York, NY was the gallery which handled all sales from the estate prior to Mrs. Bellows' death. (This provenance is demonstrated in the records of Emma in a Purple Dress (Dallas Museum of Art, 1956.58). Correspondence between H.V. Allison representatives and Jerry Bywaters, the DMFA director, suggest that this gift was a result of the museum purchasing Emma in a Purple Dress in 1956.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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