{"id":3972,"date":"2025-03-12T16:14:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T20:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/?p=3972"},"modified":"2025-03-24T16:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T20:50:23","slug":"george-wesley-bellows-old-lady-with-blue-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/george-wesley-bellows-old-lady-with-blue-book\/","title":{"rendered":"George Wesley Bellows Old Lady with Blue Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01{max-width:100%;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;}.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-dir-horizontal:not(.kb-section-md-dir-vertical)>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01{-webkit-flex:0 1 100%;flex:0 1 100%;max-width:unset;margin-left:unset;margin-right:unset;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01{position:relative;}@media all and (min-width: 1025px){.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-dir-horizontal>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01{-webkit-flex:0 1 100%;flex:0 1 100%;max-width:unset;margin-left:unset;margin-right:unset;}}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-sm-dir-vertical:not(.kb-section-sm-dir-horizontal):not(.kb-section-sm-dir-specificity)>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01{max-width:100%;-webkit-flex:1;flex:1;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;}.kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3972_2d48b8-01 mobile-section\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"774\" height=\"114\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo.png\" alt=\"Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection\" class=\"wp-image-2922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo.png 774w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo-300x44.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo-768x113.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_c0f1c3-3d .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_c0f1c3-3d .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#f1f1f1;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_c0f1c3-3d .kt-divider{width:100%!important;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-3972_c0f1c3-3d\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>George Wesley Bellows (1882\u20131925)<\/strong><br><em>Old Lady with Blue Book<\/em>, 1919<br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil on canvas<br>McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Alexandria &amp; Michael N. Altman P\u201922, \u201924, \u201926, 2019.4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"1198\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-lady.jpg\" alt=\"Old Lady with Blue Book\" class=\"wp-image-3973\" style=\"width:1202px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-lady.jpg 960w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-lady-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-lady-821x1024.jpg 821w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-lady-768x958.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#f1f1f1\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong>John McCoy<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><br>Assistant Director, McMullen Museum<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/mccoyj.jpg\" alt=\"John McCoy\" class=\"wp-image-3974\" style=\"width:78px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/mccoyj.jpg 200w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/mccoyj-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-mother-610x1024.jpg\" alt=\"My Mother\" class=\"wp-image-3975\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-mother-610x1024.jpg 610w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-mother-179x300.jpg 179w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-mother-768x1289.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/bellows-mother.jpg 843w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">George Wesley Bellows,&nbsp;<em>My Mother<\/em>, 1921. Oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"661\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/eakins.jpg\" alt=\"Miss Amelia Van Buren\" class=\"wp-image-3976\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/eakins.jpg 480w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/eakins-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thomas Eakins,&nbsp;<em>Miss Amelia Van Buren<\/em>, c. 1891. Oil on canvas, Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>George Bellows is most famous for his paintings of urban New York, particularly scenes of boxing and nightlife. A student of Robert Henri (1865\u20131929), Bellows is associated with the so-called Ashcan School, a group composed of Henri and his followers committed to depicting realistic scenes of poor neighborhoods and their inhabitants. Although Bellows shared some of the subject matter and broad painterly style of his fellow painters in the Ashcan group, he was less interested in painting as social commentary than he was in the freedom of artists to paint whatever they wanted. Bellows\u2019s work flitted from city scenes to those of high society to seascapes; and from periodical illustration to portraiture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His title for&nbsp;<em>Old Lady with Blue Book<\/em>&nbsp;does not provide the name of the sitter, but she closely resembles Bellows\u2019s mother as he depicted her in other works (see comparison). That the McMullen painting was in Bellows\u2019s estate at his death suggests it was of personal significance. Stylistically, the loose brushwork shows the strong influence of Henri, while the dark, restrained palette and matter-of-fact realism recalls the work of Thomas Eakins (1844\u20131916), whom Bellows held in high esteem (see comparison).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The black dress with white lace collar and cuffs indicates the wearer is in either \u201csecond mourning\u201d or \u201clate mourning.\u201d Complex rules dictated mourning attire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and changed with the passage of time from the death of a loved one. Some widows, especially the elderly, wore late mourning clothes the rest of their lives. The other indication that this woman is a widow is her brooch bearing the likeness of a man. While the early Victorian tradition was for mourning brooches to feature locks of hair or cameos of mourning figures, by the late nineteenth century photographs of the deceased, sometimes colored, were popular. By the early twentieth century, these markers of widowhood would have been recognized by viewers even if they were fading from practice. The blue book is a sewn cloth hardcover with gold blocking (embossed printing) on its spine. The electric blue is probably due to aniline, a petroleum dye discovered in 1856 that produces dazzling colors, including a bright indigo. Such colors were common in cloth bindings of the 1860s, but soon went out of fashion as later covers incorporated more overall printing and muted colors. Gold blocking was also popular in the years following the 1849 gold rush, but fell out of style after the Civil War drove up the cost. Taken together, these clues point to the book being an antique, and possibly a treasure for its owner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_765e8e-82 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_765e8e-82 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#f1f1f1;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-3972_765e8e-82 .kt-divider{width:100%!important;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-3972_765e8e-82\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"383\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-1024x383.png\" alt=\"Logo Gold\" class=\"wp-image-2910\" style=\"width:569px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-1024x383.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-768x287.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Wesley Bellows (1882\u20131925)Old Lady with Blue Book, 1919 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Alexandria &amp; Michael N. Altman P\u201922, \u201924, \u201926, 2019.4 John McCoyAssistant Director, McMullen Museum George Bellows is most famous for his paintings of urban New York, particularly scenes of boxing and nightlife. A student of Robert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140560,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"margaret-sandbox","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/author\/margaret-sandbox\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3972"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4438,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions\/4438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}