Tag: Abstract expressionism

Surely I must be mistaken. Nothing about me would indicate a steadfast interest in a niche collection of vintage boxing cards from the late 1800s and beyond. The trading cards on display are straightforward, commercial depictions of boxing champions from the 1880s. There are essentially two poses these boxers take: crossed arms or in the guard position. Otherwise, the artist has cropped the illustrated portrait below the collarbones of these oft-mustachioed men. Nearly a century before these trading cards were produced British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson created a series of prints called, “Six Stages of Marring a Face” (1792), which combined the visual motifs of a boxing beatdown (bruises, gashes, etc.) As Lady Archer squeezes, primps, and plumps, we see gestures strangely akin to the nearby boxer’s. In the corner of the Met’s exhibition are three nearly identical portraits from the 1780s, the first of which displays boxing champion Richard Humphreys while the last two showcase Daniel Mendoza. Depicting opposing black and white boxers, it is clear that Gericault is foregrounding an aesthetic decision to heighten the monochromatic qualities of his lithograph by exploiting the racial politics of boxing. On the Ropes: Vintage Boxing Cards from the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection continues at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan) through October 21.