I like to paint Billy Sunday, not because I like him, but because I want to show the
world what I do think of him. Do you know, I believe Billy Sunday is the worst thing
that ever happened to America. He is Prussianism personified. His whole purpose is to
force authority against beauty. He is against freedom, he wants a religious autocracy,
he is such a reactionary that he makes me an anarchist.
-George Bellows
Curiously enough, although Bellows' intent in this lithograph was to show the
horrible power Billy Sunday had over people, Sunday liked the image enough that he
gave an impression to a friend. The crowd hearing this tirade is more staid than the
crowd in Bellows' earlier lithograph The Sawdust Trail. It is Sunday who is the
catalyst for action in this work—on his feet, standing on tables, and gesturing
forcefully at the crowd which seems to rear back in response to his hand.
The entire event takes place in a cavernous space and the strong verticals of the roof
supports stand in solid contrast to the dramatic diagonal stance taken by Sunday.
