Tennis Tournament
1920
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 149.8 x 167.6 cm (59 x 66 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1983.1.5
Art Historical Context
George Bellows’s “Tennis Tournament” (1920) is a large-scale oil on canvas that captures the lively energy of a sporting event. Measuring nearly five feet high and five-and-a-half feet wide, the painting’s generous dimensions invite viewers to feel immersed in the scene, as if standing courtside among the spectators. Bellows, celebrated for his vigorous brushwork and interest in modern American pastimes, used the rich, flexible qualities of oil paint to suggest swift motion and bright outdoor light. Painted at a moment when tennis was gaining popularity as both recreation and spectacle, the w...
About the Artist
George Bellows
George Wesley Bellows was born on August 12, 1882, in Columbus, Ohio, the only child of building contractor George Bellows Sr. and Anna Smith Bellows, with an older half-sister, Laura. A talented athlete who excelled in baseball and basketball at Ohio State University from 1901 to 1904, Bellows illustrated for the school yearbook before rejecting a professional baseball contract to pursue art. In ...