The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 26, 2024

The Holdup, first state

The Holdup, first state

1921
(American, 1882–1925)
Platemark: 28 x 21.6 cm (11 x 8 1/2 in.); Sheet: 32.8 x 26.5 cm (12 15/16 x 10 7/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Mason 89
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Their hats—a top hat, and a flat cap, or newsboy—help to distinguish the high society and working-class status of the two main characters in this print.

Description

When the New York Times reviewed this work by George Bellows in 1921, it described it as a “subject interpreted in the spirit of Dickens. With a hint of melodrama, a hint of comedy, and a pinch of realism.” Bellows cast the episode as humorous; a gentleman in a fancy waistcoat and top hat is jumped by a thief with a small handgun and an accomplice emerging from the shadows behind. For such caricatured encounters, Bellows may have looked to the long history of political satire in the popular press. This is the first of two states, or versions, that Bellows made of this print.
  • ?-1936
    Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. [1889-1957], Cleveland, OH
    November 9, 1936
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-December 26, 2021).
    Humor in Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 13-October 28, 1934).
  • {{cite web|title=The Holdup, first state|url=false|author=George Bellows|year=1921|access-date=26 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1936.548