Exhibit of works by Bellows shows atrocities of war

An article, by Julie Phillips in the Athens Banner-Herald, on our summer exhibitions.

Exhibit of works by Bellows shows atrocities of war
By Julie Phillips
Sunday, May 28, 2006

'Let Loose Upon Innocence" is, as its title suggests, an exhibition whose work has little mercy on its viewers - an echo of the senseless way in which war has little mercy on its victims.

We see civilians, naked and helpless, used by soldiers as human barricades; evil-faced men reaching toward a young woman as she cowers in terror, her family dead at her feet; the horror on faces of people in a small village as they fall in the midst of a massacre.

Somewhat unlike the footage we've become accustomed to, there is, in this collection of works by American artist George Bellows (1882-1925) currently on display at the Georgia Museum of Art, an unexpected sense of immediacy and intensity that shakes us as viewers.

The works - five oil paintings (two are not included in this exhibit) and 15 lithographs, along with two other paintings - were created by Bellows in a single astonishingly prolific year, 1918. They represent the artist's reaction to true accounts of German atrocities committed against Belgian civilians during World War I as detailed in the New York Times' 1915 publication of the "Bryce Committee's Report on Deliberate Slaughter of Belgian Non-Combatants."

Exhibit curator Paul Manoguerra notes Bellows, whose political leanings were evident throughout his career, was a professed socialist, but in a stance that went against his peers - and indeed would seem nearly contradictory regarding his depictions of the seeming senselessness of battle - advocated the United States' involvement in the war.

It was, Manoguerra says, a case of justifiable war for Bellows, considering the atrocious acts committed against innocent people.

"Up until the British began area bombing in World War II, the idea of waging war on civilians was against the rules of warfare," Manoguerra says. "And the shocking nature of these stories coming out of Belgium was what inspired Bellows enough to create these works."

The exhibit is the result of a loan to the museum of a particularly stunning painting by Bellows, "The Return of the Useless," described by GMOA director William Eiland in the exhibition catalog as "a work of genius." It depicts Belgians, used as slave labor, being returned by Germans to their hometowns, broken, sickened, weak and useless - essentially left to die.

Manoguerra put together the rest of the show around this piece, with the other works coming from the museum's own collection or lent from other museums.

While it's easy to draw comparisons to contemporary events - indeed to any war - Manoguerra says the intent of the show was simply to contextualize "The Return of the Useless" in Bellows' career.

And, despite the grim nature of the exhibit, there is some hope for its viewers. Presiding over the gallery are two paintings created by Bellows shortly after the close of WWI at the end of 1918. Each grand-scale piece depicts a nurse, bathed in luminous rays that shine down from the heavens as doves hover overhead. In each case she clasps the hands of a soldier. In the same way the rest of the show is Bellows' indictment of war, these works would seem the artist's indictment - or at least preference for - peace.

But the mission of the exhibit is clear, as Manoguerra says, referencing the show's title.

"As viewers, people are coming into the exhibit with a level of innocence, and the expectation that art is (always) beautiful ... this lets loose Bellows on you and shocks you out of the idea that art is always pleasant."

Photograph: George Bellows, The Return of the Useless, 1918. Oil on canvas, 59 inches x 66 inches. On loan from a charitable foundation.