Philip Koch blogs about the exhibition George Bellows at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., on view through October 8, 2012.

Koch writes that "Bellows was a school mate of… Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent… at the New York School of Art. All three showed a marked influence from their teacher, the charismatic Robert Henri, whose work was characterized by rapid execution with large brushes and a high sense of pictorial drama. Kent and Hopper gradually moved more away from Henri's style and vision as the years went by, but Bellows seemed to find a more comfortable fit and stayed with the swashbuckling application."