Dempsey and Firpo by George Wesley Bellows

Dempsey and Firpo 1924

acrylic

green tone

painted

possibly oil pastel

neo expressionist

underpainting

painting painterly

abstract character

green and neutral

colour experimentation

"Dempsey and Firpo" is a 1924 oil painting by American artist George Wesley Bellows, capturing the intense energy of the 1923 fight between Jack Dempsey and Luis Ángel Firpo. This iconic piece, now in the Whitney Museum of American Art, showcases Bellows’s dynamic style, using bold brushstrokes and dramatic lighting to depict the action of the fight. The painting is a testament to Bellows’s interest in portraying the grit and passion of American sports, capturing both the physicality of the fighters and the excitement of the crowd.