Preliminaries (1916): Art, History and Details
Preliminaries at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1916, lithograph. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Preliminaries (1916) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is George Bellows (American, 1882–1925).
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
By 1916, the year Bellows created Preliminaries, boxing was legal in New York and had begun attracting audiences beyond its usual working-class, male demographic. Relegating the ensuing match to the background, this print focuses on a group of wealthy spectators who arrive to take their seats in Madison Square Garden. According to the artist’s widow, the subject was occasioned by the first bout in New York to which women were permitted to attend.
Object facts
- Title: Preliminaries
- Date: 1916
- Creator attribution: George Bellows (American, 1882–1925)
- Culture: America
- Type: Print
- Technique: lithograph
- Dimensions: Image: 40 x 49.6 cm (15 3/4 x 19 1/2 in.)
- Collection: PR - Lithograph
- Department: Prints
- Accession number: 1936.642
Collection credit
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
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