46. George Bellows
(1882-1925)

The Black Hand

(click on image to print)
Bellows, The Black Hand

The Black Hand

Original drawing in pencil and India ink on yellowish wove paper, 1921, 347 x 460 mm.(image size), signed and dedicated in pencil. The drawing is reproduced in the October, 1921 issue of The Century Magazine, where it illustrated a short story of the same name by M.L.C.Pickthall, dealing with the rescue of a young white man from a shipwreck by a black French sailor. The drawing was give by Bellows to the dedicatee and has remained in the family ever since, never previously offered for sale. It is a large, fabulous, highly dramatic drawing whose importance hugely exceeds its original purpose as an illustration.