Activity #5

George Bellows Dempsey and Firpo was made in 1924 after the famous fight between Luis Firpo and Jack Dempsey. The theme of this piece is stories and histories. A theme is a concept or category that the subject of the artwork represents. The theme stories and histories has a subject matter of stories whose roots reach deep into their culture’s collective memory. Anyone with a deep knowledge of boxing history knows about one of the most historical fights of one of the greatest fighters that ever lived. Though the story in this picture is half told, as it would seem that the 4 year champion Dempsey, who is the man knocked through the ropes, is going to lose to Firpo, the first Latin American to fight for the championship. But after the event depicted by Firpo transpires, Dempsey gathers himself back in the ring to knockout his opponent and retain his championship. In the artwork, all of the people are drawn with a surprised expression on their faces at what has happened to their champion except the left most and only bald man who is also the least detailed. That is Bellows himself in a self portrait as he was a spectator of the fight.

I saw that Bellows had many sports related paintings from a spectator’s view from such as other boxing matches and tennis matches. He seemed to be a visual artist drawing from his experiences.

The Fall of Phaeton by Paul Rubens made in 1606 also had the theme of stories and histories but because the picture is depicted from Greek mythology I saw a bit of the invention and fantasy theme. Though it tells a story, the fact it is from mythology means the story isn’t factual especially the flying horses and winged figures standing on a cloud. Without prior knowledge of the mythology it most mostly impossible to know what is exactly going on from just viewing the picture. Phaeton, son of Apollo the sun god, wanted proof that he is in fact the sun of a god after being told he had no proof. To prove it he asks to drive Apollo’s horses and chariot. When he does the horses sense the weakness of the mortal and run out of control. They get to close to earth and set it on fire. To stop this Zeus hits Phaeton with a thunderbolt represented by the ray of light streaking through the painting. Phaeton, singled out by the red cloth around him, falls out the chariot into the darkness of the painting.

Like Bellows, I noticed a similar theme in some of his work, in Rubens’s case is mythological. From paintings like Daniel in the Lions’ Den and Chained Prometheus, I could tell he was very interested in the mythological history.

Creative Notebook

Macedonia Helmet from 330 BC

The battle between the invincible Achilles and the trojan prince Hector from greek mythology

Another biblical picture of Daniel in the Lions Den. I would have chosen this as one of the pictures to use during the class had someone else hadnt picked it first.


Another one of George Bellow's art pieces called the countdown.



A biblical picture of Samson killing a lion. I have seen many variations of it but this was one of the ones I liked the best.


The Seine
I liked the tranquil and relaxed feeling you get when you look at this picture from sepia earth tone tint and thick brush strokes.

Activity #4

George Bellow’s Dempsey and Firpo, uses several principles of design. The painting is symmetrically balanced with the action of the objects being focused towards the middle of his art with exception of the ref on the right side. The people also show balance as the spectators are balanced around the focal objects. Bellow’s even has two heads in the back sitting up higher than the rest on each side. The line of repeated spectators also shows rhythm but most obvious example of repetition are the few copies of spotlights above and around the boxer in the ring. The spectators in the back have also been scaled down compared to those in front to show depth and distance. Because the painting is monochromatic, I would think that it would have be unified with grey and black and have no variety. The black background, the darkness of the clothes spectators wear, and gloves/shoes the boxers dominate the picture. But using different shades of gray, Bellow’s is able to create different complexions, flesh tones and hair colors. The best examples of it are the three men to the left of the boxer that got knocked out the ring. Each man has a different skin and hair color. The first man has a darker skin tone but lighter hair than the man next to him and the man to the right seems older because of the grayness seen in his hair. The unity and rhythm is not perfect but can be seen.

The Fall of Phaeton by Sir Peter Paul Rubens also uses several principles of design. The focal point and emphasis is clearly the ray of light shining down and the objects it highlights as when I first viewed this picture, my eyes were drawn to light shining down on the woman with the blue cloth. That blue cloth stands out from everything else that has a complementary reddish orange tone. Next my focus moves to the horses in a counterclockwise circle back to the light. The implied light in the focal point contrasts the darker valued subordinate area around the emphasis circle I explained above. Besides the sun yellow used for the light, the vibrant red and orange colors kept you looking at the other emphasized objects from the horses to the man falling out the chariot wearing a red sash. Those colors are complemented by the blue of the clouds in the subordinate area. There is unity and repetition of the horses and people in a circular fashion as if they were connected by a chain.

Activity #2

The main difference between the two pieces I chose is that Dempsey and Firpo by Bellows is grayscale while The Fall of Phaeton by Sir Rubens is colored.

Ruben’s piece uses stronger counter lines around separate objects whereas Bellows uses the contrast of the primarily black background with the lighter shaded foreground objects to create form. Both art pieces use value to produce a smoother and defined texture shown perfectly by the muscles of the horses and the back of the defeated boxer. Also implied overhead lighting in both(the ray of light in The Fall of Phaeton and the overhead spotlight shining down vertically on the boxers). The many spotlights in a boxing ring causes Bellows to use various shades of gray control the shadows throughout the piece. As you move away from the ray of light in The Fall of Phaeton the shades of all colors darken from the lack of implied light. Though focal points are usually in one place, Rubens use of kinetic movement with the implied light effectively extended the focal point across the painting. Both pictures are asymmetrically balanced because the focus from the action is sent to one side of each despite the amount of objects used.

The use of space with the black background to in a way highlight the more lightly shaded victorious boxer in Dempsey and Firpo. In Rubens’ piece, the use of space around the focal point is more crowded but keeps the flow of kinetic movement while the more vacant spaces are used to show the intensity of the ray of light.

Online Museum Visit

Dempsey and Firpo by George Bellows


The Fall of Phaeton by Sir Peter Paul Rubens