Bellows produced all of the works in the series within a six-week period in the spring of 1918, adamant to photograph the most difficult of war crimes.

“I had to do it,” he once said.

Bellows was a member of the Ashcan School in the early decades of the twentieth century. As the name of the school suggests, Bellows and his colleagues depicted the grit and filth of the city landscape, developing a new form of urban realism.

According to Orcutt, Bellows was known for his “brash, bold and masculine” paintings, particularly of those featuring muscular boxers and the crowd fixated on them. In his time, Bellows was considered the quintessential American artist, though his work gradually seemed less fashionable and inventive compared to the modern art emanating from Europe.

Bellows created these lithographs and paintings at a transitional moment in art history—but they also marked a transition in his personal life and politics.

Bellows was openly anti-war at the beginning of World War I. But by the end of the war, perhaps because of the very brutalities by the German forces he depicts, he had not only turned pro-war, but had even enlisted to fight.

In fact, the lithographs and five paintings done in the spring of 1918 were utilized at the time as pro-war propaganda, and reappeared for the same reason during World War II.

But in the current pre-war climate, the exhibit may elicit diverse, even contrary responses. For some, the painting and lithographs may once again create a militaristic climate. For others, the exhibit may animate visions of the horrors of war and contribute to anti-war sentiments.

While the exhibition was planned months ago to mark the recent acquisition of the lithographs from the artist’s estate, it remains timely, Orcutt says.

“The acquisition of the lithographs come at a time when war is once again a crucial issue,” Orcutt says. “Seeing these works in the current climate will highlight the ways that art can speak in different voices to different generations, and how we as viewers create new layers of meaning for works of art as we integrated the artist’s intentions with our own experiences and beliefs.”

—“George Bellows: Tragedies of War” opens tomorrow at the Fogg Art Museum and runs through May 11.

—Staff writer Jessica E. Gould can be reached at gould@fas.harvard.edu.