Between 1908 and 1912 Bellows painted a series of landscapes focusing on life by the Hudson River in New York City that were praised by critics for their ruggedness and "vigorous manner." In Up the Hudson, a scene of Riverside Park under construction with a view of the Palisades, the artist used an aerial perspective and a palette of soft, subtle colors to depict urban progress.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Circuit Exhibition of Contemporary Art of the National Arts Club," February 11–March 10, 1911, no. 2.
WPA Art Center, Jacksonville, Fla. "Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–31, 1941, no catalogue.
New York. The National Academy Galleries. "Our Heritage: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Graphic Art," January 8–February 7, 1942, no. 245.
Minneapolis. University Gallery, University of Minnesota. "American Paintings," May 22–July 1, 1944, no catalogue.
Hempstead, N.Y. Hofstra College. "The Arts Come to Hempstead," May 6–13, 1945, unnumbered cat.
New York. YMCA, West Side. February 24–September 2, 1947, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 3).
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "George Bellows: A Retrospective Exhibition," January 19–February 24, 1957, no. 7 (dated April 1908).
Columbus, Oh. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. "Paintings by George Bellows," March 21–April 21, 1957, no. 5.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "100 Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 22–July 27, 1975, no. 99.
Moscow. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. "100 Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," August 28–November 2, 1975.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. "George Wesley Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," April 1–May 8, 1979, no. 10.
Richmond. Virginia Museum. "George Wesley Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," June 29–August 5, 1979, no. 10.
Des Moines Art Center. "George Wesley Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," September 17–October 28, 1979, no. 10.
Worcester Art Museum. "George Wesley Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," November 16–December 28, 1979, no. 10.
Macon, Ga. Museum of Arts and Sciences. "George Bellows: The Personal Side," March 16–May 6, 1984, unnumbered cat. (fig. 24).
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," April 19–June 1, 1986, no. 38.
Kobe City Museum. "Landscape Painting in the East and West," June 7–July 13, 1986, no. 38.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April 4–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Landscape of America: The Hudson River School to Abstract Expressionism," November 10, 1991–February 9, 1992, unnumbered cat. (p. 39).
West Palm Beach, Fla. Norton Museum of Art. "George Bellows: Love of Winter," December 6, 1997–February 8, 1998, no. 3.
Newark Museum. "George Bellows: Love of Winter," March 7–May 31, 1998, no. 3.
Savannah, Ga. Jepson Center for the Arts, Telfair Museums. "George Bellows and Riverside Park: Celebrating a Telfair Masterpiece," February 12–May 1, 2011.
"Sargent's Portraits at Academy Show." New York Times (December 14, 1908), p. 8, discusses how the inclusion of the figures and railroad in the scene make it more vital and interesting than typical landscapes of mountains and rivers.
James B. Townsend. "Winter Academy Display." American Art News 7 (December 12, 1908), p. 7, ill. p. 3.
"Academy Landscapes." Evening Post 107 (December 16, 1908), p. 9, calls it "one of the most interesting landscapes" in Exh. New York 1908-9; notes that it was painted near 125th Street in New York and praises the vitality of the boat, trees and water in the painting despite the "heavy" color palette.
Arthur Hoeber. "The Winter Exhibition of The National Academy of Design." International Studio 36 (February 1909), p. cxxxvi, ill. p. cxxxviii, calls it "Up the Hudson" in the text and "Up the River" in the caption; describes this work as portrayed in a, "frank almost brutal manner, bubbling over, nevertheless, with animation and life".
Giles Edgerton. "What Does the National Academy of Design Stand For?" Craftsman 15 (February 1909), p. 522.
B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "Recent Accessions." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 6 (March 1911), pp. 67–68, ill., states that donor Hugo Reisinger considered this painting the best work by Bellows to date.
"George Bellows, An Artist with 'Red Blood'." Current Literature 53 (September 1912), p. 342, ill.
Robert G. McIntyre. "George Bellows: An Appreciation." Art and Progress 3 (August 1912), p. 682, ill. p. 681.
Charles L. Buchanan. "George Bellows: Painter of Democracy." Arts and Decoration 4 (August 1914), p. 371.
Bessie Laub. "The Art Corner: Art of George Bellows." Courier-Journal (March 18, 1917), p. 3, ill.
"The Exhibition of the Paintings of George Bellows, N.A., at the Albright Art Gallery." Academy Notes 14 (January–October 1919), p. 132.
Louis H. Frohman. "Bellows as an Illustrator." International Studio 78 (February 1924), p. 422, as "Up Hudson".
Ralph Flint. "Bellows and His Art." International Studio 81 (May 1925), p. 81.
E. V. Lucas. "George Wesley Bellows." Ladies' Home Journal 43 (April 1926), pp. 13, 142, ill. p. 12.
Louise Upton. "Recent Exhibitions of the Works of Ivan Mestrovic and George W. Bellows." Museum Graphic, Los Angeles Museum 1 (September–October 1926), p. 7.
Emma S. Bellows. The Paintings of George Bellows. New York, 1929, pl. 16.
Alan Burroughs. Limners and Likenesses: Three Centuries of American Painting. Cambridge, Mass., 1936, p. 209.
"FSCW to Sponsor Exhibit of Art at Jacksonville." Tallahassee Democrat (February 27, 1941), p. 10.
Peyton Boswell, Jr. George Bellows. New York, 1942, pp. 15–16, ill. p. 92 (color).
Frank Seiberling, Jr. "George Bellows, 1882-1925, His Life and Development as an Artist." PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1948, pp. 37, 207.
Doris Brian. "The Metropolitan's American Policy—A Long View, No Blind Flying." Art Digest 24 (July 1, 1950), pp. 8–9, ill.
Robert Beverly Hale. "American Painting 1754–1954." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12 (March 1954), p. 180.
George Bellows: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1957, no. 7, ill. p. 42, notes that it was painted in August 1919 from sketches made at the annual tennis tournament at the Casino in Newport, Rhode Island.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 38–40, ill.
Charles H. Morgan. George Bellows: "Painter of America". New York, 1965, p. 85–86, 88, 131–32, ill. p. 314, compares this work to other paintings of rivers, noting that the canvas was restretched several times by Bellows; states that Reisinger purchased it in April 1911.
Donald Braider. George Bellows and the Ashcan School of Painting. Garden City, N.Y., 1971, pp. 45, 70, calls it "Up the River".
Mahonri Sharp Young. The Paintings of George Bellows. New York, 1973, p. 38, colorpl. 9.
Harold Spencer. "Criehaven: A Bellows Pastoral." William Benton Museum of Art Bulletin 1, no. 5 (1977), p. 20.
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Wing: A Guide. New York, 1980, p. 103, fig. 66.
Trinkett Clark inBellows, The Boxing Pictures. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1982, p. 103.
Patricia Phagan. George Bellows: The Personal Side. Exh. cat., Museum of Arts and Sciences. Macon, Ga., 1984, p. 9, fig. 24.
Lisa Messinger inLandscape Painting in the East and West. Exh. cat., Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. [Shizuoka–ken], 1986, pp. 98, 293, 360, no. 38, ill.
Ann Dumas inLandscape Painting in the East and West. Exh. cat., Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. [Shizuoka-Ken], 1986, p. 314.
Lowery Stokes Sims inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, p. 63, fig. 7.
Constance Schwartz. Landscape of America: The Hudson River School to Abstract Expressionism. Exh. cat., Nassau County Museum of Art. Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1991, pp. 37, 74, ill. p. 39.
Marianne Doezema inThe Paintings of George Bellows. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Tex. New York, 1992, p. 107.
Michael Quick inThe Paintings of George Bellows. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Tex. New York, 1992, pp. 15–16, 21.
Jane Myers inThe Paintings of George Bellows. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Tex. New York, 1992, pp. 187, 241–42.
Franklin Kelly inThe Paintings of George Bellows. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Tex. New York, 1992, p. 136, fig. 1.
Marianne Doezema. George Bellows and Urban America. New Haven, 1992, pp. 55, 58, 60, 206 n. 61, p. 208 n. 96, fig. 27, colorpl. 6, states that Lucy Belloli, MMA conservator, discovered that all four margins of this canvas had been reduced and expanded over time, resulting in a net increase of 2.5 inches at the top and a decrease of 1.25 inches at the bottom; also notes that archival documents show that Bellows' roommate, Edward Keefe, remembered helping the artist "cut down" this work in 1909; notes that the different dimensions can be traced in reproductions of this work in Refs. Hoeber 1908, American Art News 1908, Burroughs 1911; suggests that Bellows changed the axis of the composition after Exh. New York 1908.
John Wilmerding inGeorge Bellows: Love of Winter. Exh. cat., Norton Museum of Art. West Palm Beach, Fla., 1997, p. 20.
David Setford inGeorge Bellows: Love of Winter. Exh. cat., Norton Museum of Art. West Palm Beach, Fla., 1997, pp. 34–35, 38–40, 60, no. 3, ill. pp. 61 (color), p. 112 (chronological checklist no. 5), fig. 24.
Elizabeth Athens in H. Barbara Weinberg. American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met. Exh. cat., Queensland Art Gallery. New York, 2009, pp. 87, 328 no. 12, ill. p. 86 (color).
H. Barbara Weinberg. American Impressionism & Realism. Exh. cat., Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. New York, NY, 2009, p. 28.
John Fagg. On the Cusp: Stephen Crane, George Bellows, and Modernism. Tuscaloosa, Ala., 2009, pp. 99–101.
Carol Troyen inGeorge Bellows. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., 2012, pp. 106, 108, 110, 305, fig. 3 (color).
Glenn C. Peck. George Bellows' Catalogue Raisonné. Online resource [hvallison.com], [2012], unnumbered, ill. (color).
George Bellows (American, Columbus, Ohio 1882–1925 New York)
1921
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
