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    Museum collections / The Cleveland Museum of Art
    Stag at Sharkey's
    George Bellows. Stag at Sharkey's, 1909. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

    Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art

    AT-00000232

    Stag at Sharkey's

    by George Bellows

    Also known as: Club Night

    View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

    About the Artwork

    Bellows was no stranger to Sharkey’s Athletic Club, a raucous saloon with a backroom boxing ring, located near his studio. Founded by Tom “Sailor” Sharkey, an ex-fighter who had also served in the US Navy, the club attracted men seeking to watch or participate in matches. Because public boxing was illegal in New York at the time, a private event had to be arranged in order for a bout to take place. Participation was usually limited to members of a particular club, but whenever an outsider competed, he was given temporary membership and known as a “stag.” Although boxing had its share of detractors who considered it uncouth at best or barbaric at worst, its proponents—among them President Theodore Roosevelt—regarded it a healthy manifestation of manliness. Around the time Bellows painted Stag at Sharkey’s, boxing was moving from a predominantly working-class enterprise to one with greater genteel appeal. For some contemporaries, boxing was a powerful analogy for the notion that only the strongest and fittest would flourish in modern society.

    Inscriptions

    signed upper left: Geo Bellows, / Copyrighted 190[9]; inscribed on back: Geo Bellows / 146 E. 19th St. N.Y. / "Club Night" / 67.

    Provenance

    By 1922: (Marie Sterner, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1922-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

    Exhibition history

    Second Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 8-July 10, 1922). Memorial Exhibition of the Work of George Bellows. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 12-November 22, 1925). The George Wesley Bellows Memorial Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 16-March 22, 1926). The George Bellows Exhibition. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 22-March 1, 1931). Olympic Competition and Exhibition of Art. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (co-organizer) (July 30, 1932-August 31, 1931). American Painting & Sculpture 1862-1932. Museum of Modern Art, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 31, 1932-January 31, 1933). Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture. Art Institute of Chicago (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 1-November 1, 1933). A Loan Exhibition of American Paintings Since 1900. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (co-organizer) (December 10, 1933-January 31, 1934). The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-October 4, 1937). Trois Siècles d'art aux Etats-Unis. Galerie national du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (organizer) (co-organizer) (May 24-July 31, 1938). Life in America: A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings Held During the Period of the New York World's Fair. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 24-October 29, 1939). An Exhibition of Great Paintings in Aid of the Canadian Red Cross and of Small Pictures by Members of The Ontario Society of Artists. Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 15-December 15, 1940). The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). Sport in American Art. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 10-December 10, 1944). George Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 31-March 10, 1946). American Paintings: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day. Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 1-July 31, 1946). Sport in Art. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 24-February 22, 1948). The Ring and the Glove. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA (co-organizer) (September 17-November 14, 1948). Milestones of American Painting in Our Century. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (March 15-April 15, 1948); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, CO (May 5-June 25, 1948); The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 20-March 1, 1949); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (July 10-August 25, 1949); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (September 7-October 16, 1949); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 3-December 18, 1949). Aspects of New York City Life. The Century Association (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 1-April 30, 1950). 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951). Exhibition of Sporting Art. The Century Association (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 13-March 28, 1954). Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956). George Bellows: A Retrospective Exhibition. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 19-February 24, 1957). Paintings by George Bellows. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 21-April 21, 1957). Four Centuries of American Art. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 19, 1964). 200 Years of American Painting. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 1-May 31, 1964). Triumph of Realism: An Exhibition of European and American Realist Paintings 1850-1910. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 3-November 19, 1967). The Painters' America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810-1910. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 18-November 10, 1974); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (December 5, 1974-January 19, 1975); Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA (February 10-March 30, 1975). Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976). George Wesley Bellows: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 1-May 8, 1979); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (June 29-August 5, 1979); Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA (September 17-October 28, 1979); Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA (November 16-December 28, 1979). Bellows: The Boxing Pictures. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 5, 1982-January 2, 1983). The Paintings of George Bellows. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (February 16-May 10, 1992); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (October 11, 1992-January 3, 1993); Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX (February 20-May 9, 1993). Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, 1897-1917. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC (co-organizer) (November 17, 1995-March 17, 1996). The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000 (Part 1: 1900-1950). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 22-September 5, 1999). CMA Highlights. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 21-September 11, 2005). George Bellows (1882-1925). National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (June 10-October 8, 2012); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (November 13, 2012-February 18, 2013); Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (March 16-June 9, 2013). George Bellows and the American Experience. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (August 23, 2013-January 4, 2014). Stag at Sharkey’s: George Bellows and the Art of Sports. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14-September 18, 2016).

    Open-access museum data

    This record comes from the open-access collection data that the Cleveland Museum of Art publishes for unrestricted use (Creative Commons Zero). Art Trackers shows a selection of the museum's published fields. The Cleveland Museum of Art is not an Art Trackers client and has not reviewed or endorsed this page; the museum's own website is the authoritative record.

    • View this work at the Cleveland Museum of Art
    • The Cleveland Museum of Art: open-access terms

    Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

    Quick Overview

    Artist
    George Bellows (American, 1882–1925)
    Date
    1909
    Medium
    oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Framed: 110 x 140.5 x 8.5 cm (43 5/16 x 55 5/16 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 92 x 122.6 cm (36 1/4 x 48 1/4 in.)
    Type
    Painting
    Classification
    Painting
    Department
    American Painting and Sculpture
    Credit line
    Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
    Accession no.
    1922.1133

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    Open-access museum record · AT-00000232

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