Lady with a Fan (or, Emma in a Chair)
George Bellows (1882-1925), Lady with a Fan (or, Emma in a Chair), 1921, lithograph, signed in pencil lower right and also signed and annotated “imp” by the printer Bolton Brown, lower left. Reference: Mason 111. From the edition of 63. In very good condition, on Chine laid paper with wide margins (slight rippling at corners from printing, remains of prior hinging corners), 11 1/2 x 8 1/2, the sheet 14 1/8 x 10 5/8 inches, archival mounting (mylar hinging, between acid-free boards, glassine cover).
A fine clear black impression.
This is a study of Emma Bellows, George’s wife. At this time she was 37, the mother of two daughters. Emma Story and George Bellows met in 1905, in Montclair New Jersey. The setting for this portrait, done 16 years later, is probably their home at 146 East 19th Street, New York City.
This study is not a sedate formal portrait with all the details tightly drawn; rather, it’s a spirited rendering capturing the feeling of the moment – far more successful, in this observer’s view, than many of the more “finished” portraits.