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The boxer
Eduardo Arroyo1994
The Olympic Museum
Lausanne, Switzerland
The art work symbolises Arthur Cravan's face after his fight in 1916 against Jack Lil Johnson. Arthur Cravan (born Fabian Avenarius Lloyd on 22 May 1887 in Lausanne, Switzerland) was known as a pugilist, a poet, a larger-than-life character, and an idol of the Dada and Surrealism movements.
As an eccentric and provocative writer, Cravan was knocked out by the former world champion in a fight which has remained famous.
The sculpture was presented at the Biennial of Sport of fine arts organised by the Consejo Superior de Deportes in Madrid from 24 May to 17 June 1999.
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Details
- Title: The boxer
- Creator Lifespan: 26 February 1937
- Creator Nationality: Spanish
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Birth Place: Madrid, Spain
- Date Created: 1994
- Location Created: Spain
- Physical Dimensions: w330 x h380 x d175 cm (Complete)
- Painter: Eduardo Arroyo
- Description: Signed by the artist on the socle.
- Artistic school or movement: Eduardo Arroyo attended the "Lycée français" and the "Instituto de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena" and finally studied journalism. He left Spain in 1958 to avoid Franco’s regime, settling in Paris. He tried to pursue his journalistic career but he soon discovered that he was far more attracted to the visual world of pictures. In Parisian bars, Arroyo started his art career as caricaturist with colourful narrative figuration infused with socio-political content and caustic wit. Arroyo also dared to caricature established artists such as Dali, Miró and Duchamp, which earned him biting criticism. After Franco’s death in 1976, he returned to Spain, where he was officially honoured. His work developed from expressionism to neofigurative realism, which reflected on the pictorial language and function of painting and the artist’s role in society. He manipulated ready-made images, words and elements derived from commercial art and the work of other painters. Stylistically, Arroyo's mostly ironic, colourful works are at the crossroads between the trends of "nouvelle figuration" or "figuration narrative" and pop art. A characteristic of his representations is the general absence of spatial depth and the flattening of perspective. After the restoration of democracy in Spain, his art seemed to be less tortured by the obsession of his exile and by conflicting history. In 1969 he also worked as a set and costume designer. In 1997, The Olympic Museum, in Lausanne, organised an exhibition of his paintings dedicated to boxing and his “Senefelder Suite”, consisting of 102 engraving prints paying tribute to Aloys Senefelder.
- Type: Sculpture
- Rights: International Olympic Committee, 2004, ©IOC/G.Peter
- Medium: Sculpture in granite, iron and lead
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