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Thursday, November 18, 2021

Classic


If you think you've seen this one before, you probably have.  It may be the most widely viewed of all the hundreds of photos of Sandow.  I posted a color version of it a couple of years ago, and no one could figure out if it was a modern colorization or a hand tinted original.  It has appeared on book covers and on countless blogs.  There's an obvious reason for that.

 

6 comments:

  1. He was magnificent, wan' he? Somewhere I saw the only known full frontal of him...having a plaster cast of his body being made. Wish I had seen THAT as a kid! But even with those damned fig leaves, he was inspirational.

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  2. The shoes are of note. Their style directly reflects the Hellenist influence of the Victorian Classical Revival within the emerging world of sport as we understand it today. They are based on the sandals worn by Greek athletes, were all leather, and made from very soft calf or goat - goat being the softest. It is most telling that they are the only item of clothing Sandow is wearing, as nudity within all-male spaces was the order of the day in keeping with the ethos of the gymnasium, a Latinate form of the Ancient Greek γυμνάσιον (gumnasion) a compound noun meaning "exercise" and "school", from γυμνός (gumnos) meaning "naked".

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    Replies
    1. Those sandals underwent a revival in women's fashion a few years ago.

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    2. @Calorman - I love the etymologies and the history.

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