Robert Riggs, Boxer warming up

Robert Riggs frequently used boxers as his subjects. Going to training gyms, evening bouts, and even dressing rooms, Riggs observed fighters in all aspects of their professional lives. In 1931, he attended an exhibition of George Bellows’s prints of boxers, which inspired him to learn lithography and take up the boxing ring as a subject. Where Bellows sometimes veered into caricature in his depictions, Riggs endowed his subjects with heroism and grit.

Riggs executed twenty-six prizefight prints. Here, a boxer goes through his warm-up routine. The artist renders an impressive male physique exuding power and strength through the foreshortened arm and legs. The trainers stand prepared with the requisite bucket and robe.