A Stag at Sharkey’s 1917

George Bellows made this incredible image, "A Stag at Sharkey's," using lithography. It's all about process, right? The way the light emerges from the dark, it’s like he's wrestling with the stone itself. The whole thing has this raw, almost violent energy. Look at the boxer on the left, the way Bellows uses these frantic, scribbly lines to create the muscles. You can almost feel the sweat and strain. But then there's also this unexpected tenderness in the way he renders the figures, a vulnerability. It reminds me of some of Goya’s darker works, that same unflinching look at the rawness of human experience. Bellows isn't just showing us a fight, he's showing us something about the human condition. And that's what makes it so powerful. Art, like life, is an ongoing exchange of ideas, constantly challenging us to see the world in new ways.