Manship first explored the subject of wrestlers in 1908 while a student at the American Academy in Rome and already interested in subjects from antiquity. In this later work, two nude male figures are wrapped tightly together in combat in a low mass with their legs protruding. The hair is stylized and the anatomy is prominently delineated with special attention to the articulation of the athletes’ musculature.
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Marking: Foundry mark (left side of base): ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N–Y–
Edward D. Adams, New York (1916–27; his gift to MMA)
New York. National Arts Club. "Paul Manship Memorial Exhibition," May 10–24, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Bronx Museum of the Arts. "Games!!! ¡ Juegos!," February 1–March 6, 1972, no. 87.
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 17).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Paul Manship," June 11–September 1, 1991, unnumbered cat. (fig. 4).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Human Figure in Transition, 1900–1945: American Sculpture from the Museum's Collection," April 15–September 28, 1997, extended to March 29, 1998, unnum. brochure (as "The Wrestlers").
Albert TenEyck Gardner. American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1965, p. 152, ill.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 16–17, ill., dates it ca. 1915.
Joan M. Marter inAmerican Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Thayer Tolles. Vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. New York and New Haven, 2001, pp. 758–59, no. 381, ill.
Thayer Tolles. "Daniel Chester French, Paul Manship, and the 'John Pierpont Morgan Memorial' for the." Metropolitan Museum Journal 41 (2006), p. 180.
Paul Manship (American, St. Paul, Minnesota 1885–1966 New York)
1927
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