E-Book Overview
What separates the chaos of fighting from the coherent ritual of boxing? According to author David Scott, it is a collection of aesthetic constructions, including the shape of the ring, the predictable rhythm of timed rounds, the uniformity of the boxers’ glamorous attire, and the stylization of the combatants’ posture and punches. In The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing, Scott explores the ways in which these and other aesthetic elements of the sport have evolved over time. Scott comprehensively addresses the rich dialogue between boxing and the arts, suggesting that boxing not only possesses intrinsic aesthetic qualities but also has inspired painters, graphic designers, surrealist poets, and modern writers to identify, expand, and respond to the aesthetic properties of the sport. Divided into three parts, the book moves from a consideration of the evolution and intrinsic aesthetics of boxing to the responses to the sport by cubist and futurist painters and sculptors, installation artists, poster designers, photographers, and, finally, surrealist poets and modernist writers.
With distinctive illustrations and photographs in nine short chapters, Scott creates a visual as well as a textual narrative that supplements and concretely demonstrates the deep, dynamic relationship between the art of boxing and the world of art and literature.
E-Book Content
The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing
The Art and Aesthetics
of Boxing David Scott Foreword by Roger L. Conover
uni v er si t y of nebr a sk a pr ess • l inc ol n a nd l ond on
© 2008 by David Scott All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ∞ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scott, David H. T. The art and aesthetics of boxing / David Scott; foreword by Roger L. Conover. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8032-1386-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Boxing. 2. Aesthetics. 3. Art. I. Title. gv1133.s383 2008 796.83—dc22 2008024510 Designed and typeset in Quadraat by R. W. Boeche.
Image 11 has been masked due to copyright limitations. To view this image, please refer to the print edition of this book.
the art of boxing
Figure 1. Boxing Club, Trinity College Dublin. From left to right: Alan Forde, David Scott, Conor Galvin, and Ruaidhrí Breathnach, 2004. Courtesy Brendan J. Dempsey.
To my formative sparring partners in 2003 and 2004, Alan, Conor, and Ruaidhrí, a token of my appreciation.
To understand the world of boxing you have to explore it personally, to learn the ropes and to live the life of a boxer from the inside. Native understanding is here the necessary condition of an adequate knowledge of the object. Loïc Wacquant, Corps et âme
Boxing tempts writers. It bids them to riff on the contained savagery of the prizefight. It entices them to explore the endeavor in terms of masculinity, race, and class. James Ellroy, introduction to F. X. Toole’s Pound for Pound
Contents
List of Illustrations Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction
xiii xvii xxi xxiii
Part 1. Framing Violence: The Aesthetics of the Ring 1. The Evolution of Boxing as Regulated Action and Spectacle
3
2. Boxing Apparel and the Legible Body
17
3. The Ring and the Ropes
37
Part 2. The Art of Boxing
4. The Ring as Theater of Modernist Action
53
5. Visual Tensions: The Ropes
69
6. Mythical Confrontations: The Ring as Canvas and as Text
87
101
7. Visual Metonymies: The Fist and the Glove
Part 3. Writing Boxing
8. The Poetry of Boxing
123
9. Boxing and Modern Masculinity
131