A young wrestler has just pinned his opponent to the ground. Their arms and legs are so thoroughly locked together, its hard to figure out whose limbs are whose. Painter Thomas Eakins (American, 1844 – 1916) captures the detail of every muscle and vein, the men’s pale skin, and their sunburned necks. Behind the wrestlers, on the left, someone works out on a rowing machine. On the right, a fully clothed referee stands next to another, almost nude, athlete. The white trunks the athletes wear were typical gym attire in the 1890s.
A sportswriter friend helped Eakins find these two models. One was a champion wrestler, the other, a boxer. Eakins was a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, in Philadelphia. He taught his students human anatomy with a medical thoroughness, going so far as to bring in cadavers for them to dissect. But when he removed a male model’s loincloth in front of female students, he was asked to resign.
[Oil on canvas, 122.87 x 152.4 cm]
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