By George, Happy Birthday!

George Bellows, well known artist of the Ashcan School, was born on this day in 1882.

Bellows moved from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to New York City, where he found inspiration in the bustling urban landscape. A student of Robert Henri, Bellows was closely associated with "the Eight," a group of artists committed to portraying contemporary American life in the early twentieth century.

The humorous lithograph Business-Men's Bath shows men bathing after their workouts at the YMCA. Its complex composition and detail reveal Bellows's mastery of the medium.

Source: Joan Stahl. American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995).

Pictured: George Bellows, 1882–1925, Business-Men's Bath, 1923, lithograph on paper, 11 3/4 x 17 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.