This is one of two drawings of boxers that I purchased together from a seller in Pennsylvania —both signed R.M Truitt and dated 1960. I have had no luck at all turning up the artist (searches for Truitt yield page upon page of the wonderful work of Anne Truitt, though, which is a pleasure to wade through, but makes it hard to find anything else!) I think both drawings are really quite remarkable, recalling the work of Fletcher Martin (1904-1979), who made similarly unflinching paintings and prints of boxers in the ring, but I think this one is more intense and more muscular in all senses. In the stylization of the figures and the expressiveness of their faces and gestures, these also remind me a bit of the work of Elizabeth Catlett; I would guess this R.M Truitt was an African American artist as well, though I don’t know that for certain. I have a penchant for portrayals of boxers—about as distilled a representation of conflict as it gets, and and all about physicality, force, determination, endurance, and, as in the case of this drawing I think, also quite a lot about grace. Beautifully executed and to my eye quite striking and powerful.
14 5/8” x 10 5/8”, ink in paper, in very good condition. Shipped flat.
