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Rain On The River, Risd Museum, Fritz Drury

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George Bellows was critically acclaimed for the frank, even brutal manner of the urban landscapes he painted in the early years of the twentieth century. His view from a rockly ledge above Riverside Park surveys a freight train making its way along the New York Central’s famous Water Level Route. The string of railcars echoes the rushing diagonal that marks the near bank of the Hudson River. Aggressive brushstrokes indicate reflective surfaces that are animated by graphic observations: a lone pedestrian scurries acros a rain-slicked path, and a horse-drawn cart awaits a delivery of scavenged coal. Bellows called Rain on …