A Day in June

1913

George Wesley Bellows American, 1882-1925

On View

Modern, Level 2, North Wing

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

George Bellows was a realist with a technique perfectly adapted to his frank impressions. An amateur ballplayer, he maintained a life-long interest in sports, and his paintings of polo matches and prize-fight rings are often considered his finest work. The crowds in attendance at the fights were presented in summary fashion, as they were mere accessories to the main event, but they were not the only crowds Bellows painted. As is evident here, he became singularly expert at conveying the sense of motion of a crowd, in this case a group of elegant New Yorkers enjoying a late afternoon outing in Central Park. In the background is the symbol of the twentieth-century American city: a skyscraper.

Title A Day in June

Artwork Date 1913

Artist George Wesley Bellows

Life Dates 1882-1925

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 36 1/2 × 48 inches (92.7 × 121.9 cm) Framed: 43 3/4 × 56 1/16 × 3 3/8 inches (111.1 × 142.4 × 8.6 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Detroit Museum of Art Purchase, Lizzie Merrill Palmer Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 17.17

Markings

Signed Signed, lower left center: Geo. Bellows

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

1913-1917, George Wesley Bellows

1917-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

The Inaugural Exhibition. Exh. cat., Rochester Art Gallery. Rochester, NY, 1913, no. 6.

Ninth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists. Exh. cat., Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Buffalo, NY, 1914, no. 13.

Paintings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1914, no. 21.

Eighty-Ninth Annual Exhibition. Exh. cat., National Academy of Design. New York, 1914, no. 36.

Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Montross Gallery. New York, 1914, no. 17.

Special Exhibition of Paintings by Mr. George Bellows. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1915, no. 9.

Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Art. Detroit, 1915, no. 20. [as Day in June]

Paintings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Museum of History, Science, and Art. Los Angeles, 1915, no. 21.

Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Whitney-Richards Gallery. New York, 1915, no. 2.

Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows, New York City. Exh. cat., Worcester Art Museum. Worcester, MA, 1915, no. 18.

Third Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1917, pp. 12-13, no. 4.

112th Annual Exhibition. Exh. cat., The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Philadelphia, 1917, no. 273

Burroughs, Clyde H. “Accessions: Painting by George Bellows Acquired.” Bulletin of the DIA 12, 1 (October 1917): pp. 1-2 (ill).

Bellows Memorial Exhibition. Exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1925, no. 19.

“Twentieth Century Art.” DIA Guide. 1943, p. 30 (ill.).

Paintings and Drawings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1945, no. 21.

George Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1946, no. 21.

Twentieth Century American Painting. Exh. cat., University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, 1953, no. 25.

Paintings by George Bellows. Exh. cat., Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Columbus, OH, 1957, no. 28.

50th Anniversary Exhibition. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Hamilton. Hamilton, Ontario, 1964, no. 1 (ill.).

Morgan, Charles H. George Bellows, Painter of America. New York, 1965, p. 332.

“The Beauty of America in Great American Art.” Country Beautiful. New York, 1965, p. 130 (ill.).

Young, Mahonri Sharp. The Paintings of George Bellows. New York, 1973.

Wilmerding, John, ed. The Genius of American Painting. New York, 1973.

“Collection of Miss Amelia White.” Antiques 114 (November 1978) (ill.).

Detroit Institute of Arts. A Visitor’s Guide. 1995, p. 89 (ill.).

Walker, Pierre A., ed. Henry James on Culture: Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene. London, NE, 1999 (ill.).

Beal, Graham W.J. American Beauty, Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts 1770-1920. London, 2002, pp. 84, 120.

Crane, Michael. Detroit's Annual Exhibition of American Art: The Foundation of a Collection. www.dia.org/research/online_publications/annual_american_art, 2005

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

George Wesley Bellows, A Day in June, 1913, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Museum of Art Purchase, Lizzie Merrill Palmer Fund, 17.17.