Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe, NM - Artist: George Wesley Bellows

DISCOVERY

George Wesley Bellows (1882-1925)

Young Black Woman/ Chicago 1919

23 x 20 inches/

Oil on canvas

Unsigned
Verso inscription: 10 minute sketch by George Bellows, Art Institute Chicago, November 4, 1919 / Mel Williams

Fred R. Kline first gathered research and attributed to Bellows. Kline's attribution was confirmed by Bennard B. Perlman in a written opinion (12.14.89).

Note: Perlman’s research at Archives of American Art discovered photo of Bellows with his class at Art Institute Chicago, with student Mel Williams in photo.

Dr. Nicolas Cikovsky (Senior Curator, American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC); Dr. Daniel Schulman (Associate Curator 20th c. Art, Art Institute, Chicago); Fred R. Kline (Independent art historian, Santa Fe, NM); Bennard B. Perlman (Independent art historian, noted author and Bellows specialist, Baltimore) .

Mel Williams, retired as Art Director/Vice President, BBD&O, Chicago, ca.1945; Statement from Steve Williams recounting the painting’s history; Letter from Art Institute Chicago verifying Mel Williams enrollment in Bellow’s class; Letters from Perlman, Schulman, Cikovsky, and Kline; photo of Mel Williams with George Bellows and painting class.

The painting, from its original condition, has been professionally cleaned and relined to museum standards under supervision of Fred R. Kline Gallery; a transparent lining was applied to save the verso inscription.

1919-1976: William (“Mel”) Melbourne Williams; Chicago/Tesuque, NM
1976-1989: bequeathed to Steve Williams ( his son, deceased 1.1989 ),

Fred R. Kline Gallery. “George Bellows, Young Black Woman—First Exhibition of A Rare Oil Sketch”. Santa Fe, NM. Fall 1997.

Research note: Young Black Woman, a rare oil sketch by the artist, is the only known portrait of a black American by George Bellows. As stated by the supporting material and the verso inscription, Bellows made this oil sketch as a classroom demonstration in a timed 10-minute exercise and then gave the painting to student Mel Williams whose canvas he had used. Understandably, this painting does not appear in Bellows’s log of paintings.