Bellows painting to be auctioned

“Men of the Docks,” a major painting by George Bellows and the longtime star of Randolph College’s art collection in Lynchburg, Va., will be exhibited in a five-day auction preview opening Friday at Christie’s Beverly Hills.

In 1920, students at what was then Randolph Macon Women’s College pooled their funds to buy the gritty, monumental image of laborers at New York’s bustling harbor for $2,500. Despite objections of staff, alumnae and the community, trustees of the financially strapped institution recently consigned the 1912 painting to a New York auction of American art on Nov. 29, when Christie’s officials expect it to bring $25 million to $35 million.

In Beverly Hills, the work will appear with about 30 other consignments, including works by Andrew Wyeth, Georgia O’Keeffe, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell and Frederic Remington.

-- Suzanne Muchnic