American Fighters: A Century of Boxing in Art

Our ability to comprehend what it's like to be a fighter is conditioned by how we experience him either as a voyeur or through the conceptions of others. The works which appeared in this exhibition provided that experience, offering a compelling and multidimensional portrait of these complex athletes from the end of the bare-knuckle era to the present.

Although Thomas Eakins and George Bellows are perhaps the best known American artists to have executed boxing pictures, numerous other artists and photographers have produced an accomplished body of work on the subject that deserves greater recognition. While bringing some of this work to light, this exhibition presented many works not typically classified as "boxing pictures." These are the images which challenge us and confront our notions of what a prizefighter is and what being a prizefighter means in the American consciousness.

This exhibition and accompanying catalogue were made possible with support from The Smart Family Foundation, Inc. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.