In Wrestlers (Eakins), how is the History discussed?
Eakins painted a series of works depicting scullers on the Schuylkill River in the 1870s. In the late 1890s, he painted three major works depicting boxers—Taking the Count (1898), Yale University Art Gallery; Salutat (1898), Addison Gallery of American Art; Between Rounds (1899), Philadelphia Museum of Art.On May 22, 1899, Eakins had two wrestlers pose in his 4th-floor studio at 1729 Mount Vernon Street, Philadelphia. Three days earlier, he had written to his friend, sportswriter Clarence Cranmer: "I am going to start the wrestling picture on Monday at half past two. I wish you could find it convenient to be at the studio and help us with advice as to positions and so forth." The artist's protégé Samuel Murray may have been present; he modeled a small sculpture of the wrestlers that is also dated 1899. Eakins painted the works from the live models and from a nearly identical photograph, that may have been taken that day. The photograph shows the wrestler on top holding the other in a half nelson and crotch hold.PMA's unfinished version (G-319) was painted before the finished painting (G-317), and is thought to be an abandoned composition rather than a study. LACMA's finished painting (G-317) is larger, and features a well-defined setting with additional figures in the background. LACMA's oil sketch (G-318) varies from the other paintings in the position of the head and shoulders of the wrestler on top.
Author Allen Guttmann has compared Eakins' Wrestlers to George Luks' The Wrestlers (1905) and Max Slevogt's Wrestling School (1893), writing that all three paintings depict pairs of nude wrestling men lying on the ground in grappling holds.
boxers half nelson wrestling 1729 Mount Vernon Street The Wrestlers Max Slevogt Philadelphia oil sketch Schuylkill River study Addison Gallery of American Art George Luks Yale University Art Gallery grappling hold Taking the Count Salutat Between Rounds Wrestling Samuel Murray scullers Philadelphia Museum of Art