George Wesley Bellows, Frankie, the Organ Boy, 1907
George Wesley Bellows (American, 1882 - 1925)
Frankie, the Organ Boy, 1907
Oil on canvas, 48 1/4 x 34 1/4 inches (122.56 x 87 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Purchase: acquired through the bequest of Ben and Clara Shlyen, F91-22
An unexpected bequest made it possible to acquire this remarkable early portrait by George Bellows, one of a group of early studies of street urchins, often slightly deformed, as in The Cross-Eyed Boy. Frankie seems at once appealing and grotesque. It seems possible that he suffered from Williams Syndrome, a genetic disorder whose victims have an elfin facial appearance, with a low nasal bridge, and who combine mild mental retardation with a cheerful demeanor and unusual sociability with strangers.
Bibliography
Henry Adams, Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1995, p. 136.
Henry Adams, Handbook of American Paintings, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1991, p. 139-141.
Henry Adams, "George Bellows: An American Master," 1991, exhibition brochure.
Henry Adams, "George Bellows: An American Master," Calendar of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, October 1991, pp. 1-2.