Artwork Page for In the Subway

Details / Information for In the Subway

In the Subway

1921

George Bellows

(American, 1882–1925)
Culture
America
Medium
lithograph
Measurements
Platemark: 21.4 x 17.8 cm (8 7/16 x 7 in.); Sheet: 24.7 x 20.4 cm (9 3/4 x 8 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1937.502
Catalogue raisonné
Mason 88
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

The somewhat old-fashioned clothing of this couple by 1920s New York standards suggests that they may be recent immigrants to the city from Europe.

Description

Public transportation offered one of the various forms of entertainment to be had in the city: people watching. Here, George Bellows captured an amorous couple in a jolly mood who smile across the aisle at other travelers on a night out. The first subway line in New York City, from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Harlem, opened in 1904. By 1920, there were three lines covering the city’s outer boroughs and both sides of Manhattan. For five cents each, couples could go almost anywhere in the city for a night out on the town.
A vertically oriented lithograph in black ink depicts a woman and a man seated in an interior. On the left, a woman with light skin tone faces right, wearing a dark hat and fur-collared coat. Beside her, a man with medium skin tone wearing a checkered hat and dark jacket looks right. Heavy, grainy shadows define the interior, while another person sits behind them. Their hands rest close together in the foreground.

In the Subway

1921

George Bellows

(American, 1882–1925)
America

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