Seated Boxer I

While New York–based critics embraced abstract painting in the years following World War II, some notable artists remained committed to the human figure and sought ways to invest this traditional form with the spirit and ideas of the postwar period. Leon Golub’s lifelong commitment to figurative painting has its roots in both aesthetic and ethical concerns. An outspoken critic of institutionalized power structures, Golub used his trenchant figurative paintings and their violent expression to critique governmental interventions and corporate wrongdoings. Even as a young artist, he explored allegorical representations of cultural values, mining classical history for images of corruption and decadence. Seated Boxer I is an early work in this vein, painted while the artist was in Paris. Based on a photograph of a Roman copy of a Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a Greek boxer, the work serves as a platform for his existential musings. Working with the canvas flat on the floor and using loose, gestural stabs, Golub applied layer after layer of varnish and paint solvent, repeatedly scraping off the viscous substance as if debrading a wound. The result is a deeply scarred surface describing a horribly disfigured and anonymous fighter who embodies the tragic anxieties of modern life.