  About the Artwork
  
  
  At the same time that Bellows presents us with an image of a contemporary sporting event, he also delves into a theme with a long history in art. By focusing on the physical power and intense engagement of the two fighters, we are invited to see them as battling warriors, a subject that has been treated since prehistoric times.

For many years, public prize fighting was illegal in the United States but was permitted among members of private clubs such as Tom Sharkey’s Athletic Club, an establishment frequented by Bellows. Despite insisting that he knew little about the sport, Bellows depicted various aspects of boxing in his paintings, prints, and drawings. The subject was fraught with drama and alluded to more general concepts such as competition, battle, victory, and defeat. This print is related to a work painted by Bellows in 1909 and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
  
  
  Title
  A Stag at Sharkey&#039;s
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1917
  
  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.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Lithograph printed in black ink on wove paper
  
  
  Dimensions
  Image: 18 5/8 × 23 7/8 inches (47.3 × 60.6 cm)
  Sheet: 22 × 27 3/8 inches (55.9 × 69.5 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Prints
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; Photographs
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mrs. H. G. Salsinger in memory of her husband
  
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  59.185
  
  
  Copyright
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