I think I've always had a slight preoccupation with wrestling. Not a prominent one, but it’s always been there, growling gently in the back of my mind. Growing up witnessing the bizarre spandex spectacle of WWF (as it was known then) on Channel 5, with such heroes as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The (now ubiquitous) Rock, must have had some effect, as did the time when I told my friend Karl in assembly that wrestling wasn’t real, and he proceeded to put me in a headlock on the spot. It was very real then. Thanks Karl. Wrestling has been depicted in art for thousands of years. What is the enduring appeal of simulated organised violence? Let me take you through five of my favourite wrestling artworks and we’ll see what the deal is.
The Moat, Knaresborough (The Battlers)
Joseph Baker Fountain (1907–1992)
Oil on canvas
H 25 x W 18 cm
The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate
The Wrestler c.1945
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891–1915) (posthumous cast)
Bronze
H 63.5 x W 27 x D 45 cm
Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives
Wrestlers II 1989
Kevin Sinnott (b.1947)
Oil on cardboard on plywood
H 18.8 x W 18.5 cm
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford