''The Wrestlers'' is a 1905

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

held at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

in Massachusetts, United States. ''The Wrestlers'' is Luks' best-known work. The painting depicts two

nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

men

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. He painted it in order to shock members of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts whom he called "pink-and-white idiots". ''The Wrestlers'' was displayed at the 1908 Ashcan School exhibition. A 1910 article in ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

'' about the Exhibition of Independent Artists included an image of Luks' ''The Wrestlers'' despite the fact that the painting did not appear in that exhibition. In a 1908 diary entry, painter

John French Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

writes that ''The Wrestlers'' is among the best paintings he ever encountered. In 1992, art critic Carol Clark identified ''The Wrestlers'' as one of Luks' best works, calling it "raw, roughly painted" and reflective of Luks' experiences in New York. In 1996, Allen Guttmann compared Luks' ''The Wrestlers'' to Thomas Eakins' '' Wrestlers'' and Max Slevogt's ''Wrestling School'', writing that all three paintings depict pairs of nude wrestling men lying on the ground in grappling holds. In the 2009 ''Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', Ian Chilvers and John Glaves-Smith write that ''The Wrestlers'' emulates the "bravura painterly technique of artists such as Manet".

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrestlers 1905 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Nude art Wrestling in the United States Paintings of people Sports paintings Wrestling culture