Obituary Record

Jeffrey (Kent) Bellows
Died on 9/14/2005
Buried in Blair Cemetery

Pilot Tribune 20 Sept 2005

(Photo)

Jeffrey “Kent” Bellows, 56

Blair native Kent Bellows, recognized by many as America’s greatest master of figurative drawing, died at his home in Omaha last week after a short illness. His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art, museums in Ohio and Arkansas and in many distinguished private collections.

Kent Bellows was born June 26, 1949, in Blair, to Vernon and Phyllis Bellows. He attended the University of Nebraska in Omaha. His art education, however, began at home in his infancy. He studied beside his father, who was an accomplished commercial illustrator and watercolorist.

An inveterate visitor to museums and galleries, Mr. Bellows was guided by his own discerning eye, his faithful left hand, and his comprehensive memory of what is possible using a pencil or brush. His realizations of images were so compelling that most viewers were simply left doubting their own senses. A French critic concereferred to Bellows’ work as “hyper-realism.”

Mr. Bellows was a very private man who was determined not to discuss his own art. Even those who knew him best or paid as patrons for his pieces could not draw him out regarding his meaning or methods. He rendered the objects and moved on to the next vision.

His talents were not restricted to the visual arts. He loved music and was an accomplished keyboard man. Many of his closest friends were fellow musicians who could appreciate his inventive blues, rock and jazz flourishes. Opposite his easel was a well-abused electronic piano.

Professionally, Mr. Bellows was represented by Forum Gallery in New York City. Artistically, he saw his heritage as coming from the Italian masters and Thomas Eakins in America. It gave him pleasure that one of Eakins’ favored pupils and models was from Omaha.

He is survived by his mother, Phyllis Bellows, and two sisters, Debbie Wesselmann and Robin Griess-he once painted them as two wings of a butterfly-his stepchildren, Rachel Sturdy, Adam, and Sarah Shomaker, his beloved nieces and nephews, Phillip, David, and Neil Griess, Vince, Hannah, and Madolin Wesselmann. He followed their lives with exceeding interest, using them at times a s models and as collaborators on projects.

Condolences have poured in from across the country and the world on news of his passing.

Note: He is buried in Sec 97, Lot 8, Graves 3-10 Blair Cemetery; Find A Grave # 96974511

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 9/20/2005


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