Recently, I caught the Metro subway and trained downtown in Washington, D.C. to the National Gallery of Art. I wanted to see the George Bellows (1882-1925) painting exhibit. Here's the link: http://is.gd/mj8DYE.

Bellows is best known for his paintings of sports subjects like boxing (such as this famous one titled "Stag at Sharkey's"), polo, and football. He did some landscapes and portraits, as well.

Since I write a lot (but not entirely) hardboiled and noirish crime novels as well as like sports, he's right up my alley. I had a pretty good outing. The security personnel kept fussing at folks not to take photos with their cell phone cameras. This puzzled me since the warning signs are posted everywhere.

I've got to say Bellows' World War I paintings are gory, stark, and disturbing. He caught some flak for creating the paintings from secondary sources, not actually being there at the war scenes. He probably didn't need to see them. His imagination is vivid enough. Bellows died at the premature age 45 from peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix.

(Photo credit: Echostains Blog)