'Men of the Docks' (1912) by George Bellows The National
Gallery, London   Hanging now at the National Gallery here, in a
room largely devoted to Claude Monet and the other French
Impressionists, George Bellows's 1912 "Men of the Docks"
delivers a powerful visual impact. The first painting by this
major U.S. artist to be acquired by any British public
collection, it was bought for $25.5 million from Randolph
College in Lynchburg, Va. With generous help from American
donors, including a crucial fund established by Paul Getty, the
National Gallery has succeeded in purchasing an enormously
impressive masterwork.  No wonder Nicholas Penny, the gallery's
director, feels elated. "It's a shot in the arm," he tells me.
"It's amazingly exciting to see Bellows in a European context,
which emancipates him from U.S. museum display." Formerly a
senior curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Mr.
Penny remembers admiring "the wonderful Bellows paintings in
that collection," including "Both Members of This Club