Boxers
Gericault began to practice lithography—a medium associated with French Romanticism—in 1817, quickly mastering the technique. This image represents the popular English sport of boxing: two muscular combatants, in strikingly similar poses, confront one another. The black-and-white medium is used here to accentuate racial difference through stylized symmetries. In a dynamic and dramatic image, Gericault presents rivalry as a conflict between two male "opposites," with a highly charged space between them.
Artwork Details
- Title: Boxers
- Artist: Théodore Gericault (French, Rouen 1791–1824 Paris)
- Date: 1818
- Medium: Lithograph
- Dimensions: Image: 13 15/16 × 16 1/2 in. (35.4 × 41.9 cm)
Sheet: 15 3/16 x 17 11/16 in. (38.5 x 45 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1922
- Object Number: 22.63.28
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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