Kent Bellows was an American realist artist. His figurative works are made with graphite, charcoal, pastel, egg tempera, acrylic, and oil in a hyper realist style sometimes called “meticulous realism” showing the artist’s extreme concentration on details.
Background
Kent Bellows, named at birth Jeffery Kent Bellows, was born on June 26, 1949 in Blair, Nebraska, United States. He was a first-born of Vernon Bellows, a commercial artist and watercolorist, and Phyllis Jensen Bellows who later had two daughters, Bellows’ sisters, Deborah and Robin.
In his childhood, young Kent was fascinated by the cinema, the passion that remained through his life. The boy was a frequent guest of the Saturday matinees at the Town Theater. As to the museums, Bellows visited them for the first time in Chicago and New York at the age of fifteen due to his grandmother.
In 1965, the family relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, United States.
Education
Kent Bellows began his education in Blair local public schools. He also received first drawing lessons from his father.
Then, the boy pursued his secondary education at Omaha Burke High School. At the end of his secondary schooling, Bellows sent his artworks to the state Scholastic award competition. His portfolio was well received and passed on to a national competition which provided Kent with two scholarships.
He also received the Regents’ Scholarship from the University of Nebraska which allowed him to enter this University at Omaha where Bellows was taught art history by Peter Hill and Thomas H. Majeski. For the two years of the university training, Kent had tried out different artistic styles and mediums.
At the beginning of his artistic career, Kent Bellows was supported by the Ferer family and a billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who had been Bellows’s patron for eight years. Buffet remained the artist’s close friend till the end of his life. Among his early acrylic works of 1970s were abstract drawings as well as portraits of Native Americans the subjects for which the artist found in antique photographic source material. At this period, Bellows travelled to Europe and explored the art of masters from England, France and Italy, which later inspired him on many drawings, such as a double portrait of his sisters. The Bellows’ artworks were demonstrated at Midwest Biennial Show, which took place at the Joslyn Art Museum in 1970, and at other Omaha exhibitions.
In 1973, the artist moved to Omaha where he organized his first studio. Bellows earned his living by contributing the illustrations for different magazines, such as science fiction Omni and biweekly Rolling Stone for which he portrayed a science fiction writer Philip K. Dick in 1975.
At the beginning of 1980s, the artist moved with his new family to a house he had bought at 1717 South 33rd St. in Omaha at which basement Bellows organized his second studio. The artist made commissioned portraits and pencil drawings for local people as well as the lithographs of his previous creations. He also portrayed models in order to sell these pictures through galleries. One of the examples of this period was Kitchen Counter (Dirty Dishes, 1983).
A turning point for Kent Bellows’s career became the demonstration of his works in September of 1985 at the group exhibition of Tatistcheff Gallery in New York City, United States. The show brought the artist great acclaim, his works became strong demanded and were demonstrated in many galleries around the United States, including Arkansas Arts Center, Huntsville Museum of Art, National Academy of Design, Smith College Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Toledo Museum of Art.
In 1989, in Omaha, Bellows organized his third, final studio in a house at 3303 Leavenworth St., which he named the Mahler Building.
In search of new sources of inspiration, the artist travelled again to Europe at the beginning of 1990s where he explored the art of old masters. In 1993, Bellows ended his collaboration with Tatistcheff Gallery and joined other, Forum Gallery, also in New York, where in 1995 and 1998 he had two exhibitions, a solo show called Kent Bellows: Current Works, and Drawing the Figure: Kent Bellows and William Beckman. At this time, Kent started to work on painting series on the seven deadly sins playing a role of model for some of these drawings, among which were Gluttony (1999) and Wrath (2001).
Other shows in which the artist took part during this period, were organized at various galleries and museums of Nebraska, Florida, Oklahoma and Illinois, including Collector’s Show in Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock (1998) and Re-presenting Representation IV in Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York (1999-2000).
During the last period of his life, Bellows tried to work with collage. Despite the problems the artist had with his left hand which limited his artistic activity, he took part at many exhibitions, among which were A Decade of American Contemporary Figurative Drawing (2002) at Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington, and Facing Reality: The Seavest Collection of Contemporary Realism (2003) at Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York.
The artist changed his artistic name throughout his career what can be seen on his works – Jeffery at the beginning transformed into Geoffrey, then to G.K, later to G. Kent and finally, to Kent Bellows.
In his artworks, Kent Bellows expressed the human nature of his models, most of whom he knew well, as well as his own human nature.
Quotations:
"I see in my mind this mysterious, ethereal museum filled with paintings I haven’t done. That’s what makes the whole trip worthwhile."
"The image I create on the canvas is the difference between the reality of a photograph and what is actually happening. This makes for a finely tuned picture, enabling me to capture the subject’s soul."
"I feel like my real teachers were the older painters. They were the ones. I would go to Joslyn, and feel like I learned how to apply paint from what I saw down there."
"I try to depict the inner life of the subject, to give outward form to an inner state. I think my pictures have stories behind them, but I like to leave a feeling of openness. I hope that things keep going in the viewer’s mind. There’s nothing more boring than a story too quickly told. Once all the elements of a story are nailed down, the viewer is left with nothing but the artist’s technique."
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
“I just really found his intellectual curiosity, coupled with his creativity, infectious.” Warren Buffett, a business magnate and philanthropist, Bellows’s close friend
“He was just a very warm, open, likable person. He also played piano. I loved to hear him play. He had a very unique style.” Warren Buffett
“He had a great laugh, he had a great quality to his voice.” Warren Buffett
“Kent was my friend and counselor. He inspired me to achieve success in my field by teaching me the language of the visual arts – composition and light. Elements of what I learned from him remain as the cornerstone of my work today.” Patrick Drickey, a photographer, Bellows’s close friend
Interests
While studying at the high school and at the University, Kent Bellows played keyboards with rock-and-roll bands, such as Sonny and Cher.
cinema, piano
Artists
Thomas Eakins, Gregory Gillespie, the artists of the 15th and 16th centuries
Connections
Kent Bellows was married twice. His first wife became Elizabeth Irvin in 1976 at San Francisco City Hall. The couple had lived for only three years and then divorced.
A year after, in the summer, Bellows met and married Angela Shomaker who had three children from her former marriage. Their names were Adam, Rachel and Sarah.