The Wrestler

This sculpture belongs to a series of works, including sketches, prints and reliefs, that the artist made of wrestlers. In a letter from 3rd December 1912, the artist states, ‘last night I went to see the wrestlers. God! I have seldom seen anything so lovely, two athletic types, large shoulders, taut, big necks like bulls, small in the build with firm thighs’. The original plaster cast for this work was made in the winter of 1912 and this bronze casting was one of three made in about 1945.