Artwork Page for The Drunk

Details / Information for The Drunk

The Drunk

1924

George Bellows

(American, 1882–1925)
Culture
America
Medium
lithograph
Measurements
Platemark: 39.7 x 33 cm (15 5/8 x 13 in.); Sheet: 57.7 x 44 cm (22 11/16 x 17 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1936.579
Catalogue raisonné
Mason 169b
Edition
Second Stone
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

George Bellows made this lithograph as an illustration for an article in support of Prohibition published in Good Housekeeping by American suffragist Mabel Potter Daggett. Supporters of Prohibition, which had gone into effect in 1920, believed that alcohol was responsible for many societal problems, including physical violence. In this distressing image, a drunken father confronts his wife with a fist, while a daughter steps in to help and children cower in the corner. Bellows’s strong triangular composition reveals his fascination with an artistic theory called “dynamic symmetry,” in which geometry is used to promote continuity, flow, and balance.
A vertically oriented lithograph depicts a central man with a medium skin tone and dark hair struggling with two women. Facing our left, he grasps the wrists of a woman whose back is turned to us. On our right, another woman leans back as he holds her arm, all with light skin tones. In the background, a child lies on a quilt. Heavy shadows frame the scene, while broken dishes litter the floor.

The Drunk

1924

George Bellows

(American, 1882–1925)
America

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