Artist. He was a realist painter-lithographer noted for his paintings of action scenes, expressive portraits and seascapes. While attending Ohio State University, he started by providing illustrations for the school’s student yearbook, then relocated to New York in 1904, to study at the New york School of Art. By 1908, he had his own studio and achieved notice for artwork which depicted urban New York scenes and sports events. In 1919, he was teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago and displayed an increasingly programmatic and theoretical approach to color and design. By the early 1920s, he made significant contributions to lithography, helping to expand the use of the medium as a fine art in the U.S. His paintings and prints are in the collections of many major American art museums to include the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., the White House, The Hyde Collection, Museum of Art New York and many more. He died of appendicitis at age 42. In December 1999, his painting “Polo Crowd” (1910) was sold to billionaire Bill Gates for $27.5 million. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)  Family links:  Parents:  George Wesley Bellows (1829 – 1913)  Anna Wilhelmina Smith Bellows (1838 – 1923)