Reducing Exercises
George Bellows · 1916 · Cleveland Museum of Art
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From the museum
Fueled by the advertising industry and the increasing popularity of movies, the ideal standard for women’s bodies began to evolve during the early 20th century, fostering a preference for more curvaceous profiles with thinner waists. Bellows’s Reducing Exercises presents a woman dutifully engaged in changing her physique while her male companion sleeps. When he first exhibited the print, the artist provided an accompanying quip: “Gymnastics before retiring are supposed to reduce the flesh. The husband is contented with his figure.”
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- George Bellows (American, 1882–1925)
- Date
- 1916
- Medium
- lithograph
- Dimensions
- Image: 44.5 x 42.1 cm (17 1/2 x 16 9/16 in.)
- Place of origin
- America
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0








