THE MEANING OF STRENGTH IN EURO-AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
In this exhibition, images and objects are presented that illustrate famous modern strongmen and their displays of physical strength from the eighteenth century to the present. A consistent theme is the appeal of classical figures and their representation of traditional values in a modern age: Hercules, Samson, Atlas, and Milo. With physical strength being defined by masculine ideals of muscularity, bulk, and power, these strongmen and the contests or “cultural frames” in which they participate confront challenges by progressive, egalitarian movements characteristic of modernization. (Title image: P.A. Linebarger bending bars with his teeth, San Francisco, 1920s)
William Joy (1670?-1734) signaled the modern era of strongman performances as theatrical events. Known as the “English Samson,” the Kent-born Joy drew public attention in 1699 when he initiated a set of strongman feats at Duke’s theatre in London, England. His demonstrations included pulling back a horse, lifting large stones, and breaking anchor ropes. At the height of his fame, he exhibited at Kensington Palace bfore William III and afterwards before Queen Anne and her court to reinforce their assertion of British imperial power.
Thomas Topham (c. 1710-1749) built on William Joy’s renown by staging public exhibitiosn of pulling against a horse at fairs and public celebrations. His demonstrations caught the attention of Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers, a renowned British philosopher and scientist, who wrote about Topham’s exploits and presented him at Royal Society meetings. Desaguliers helped promote Topham’s reputation and spread his fame through Europe. In this print from around 1740, he is shown lifting barrels from an apparatus set up at a public demonstration. His achievements coincided with British feelings of power as its empire expanded and strength demonstrations underscored physical superiority of British men.
The main rival for British physical superiority in the eighteenth century was Germany, represented by the sensation of Johannes von Eckenberg (1684-1718), billed as the “man of strength,” “Herkules Eckenberg,” and “Samson the Invincible.” He lifted cannons, pulled back horses, and held audience members on his belly as he straddled chairs. This print printed on the occasion of his death in 1718 illustrates many of these stunts. King Frederick William of Prussia considered him a model for his troops and promoted his tour of a performing troupe that travelled around Central Europe.
This royal portrait from the Lviv National Art Gallery is of Frederick August II the Strong (1694-1733) who became King of Poland in 1697 and reigned until 1706 and again from 1709 until 1733. Born in Saxony in what is now eastern Germany, Augustus was known as the “Saxon Hercules” and the “Iron-Hand.” He demonstrated these labels by breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and tossing foxes with one finger. In his performances, he equated his physical strength with this political power, particularly in his war against Turkey.
This advertisement from Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows the early campaign for “physical culture,” or what we know today as “bodybuilding,” in North America by Dr. George Barker Windship (1837-1876). He initiated a commonly told narrative that lasted through the twenty-first century of a scrawny boy who builds up his strength in order to build his self-esteem and crush bullies who tormented him. When he entered Harvard, he was only five feet tall and 100 lbs. After a larger student threw his books down a flight of stairs, Windship determined to build himself up by practicing gymnastics. Studying medicine, he developed equipment to develop strength more than agility, including the adjustable dumbbell and early form of the “universal gym.” In his lectures he repeated the slogan “Strength is Health,” countering the popular notion that being “muscle bound” is unhealthy. As the advertisement notes, his lectures on his system of health included “feats of strength,” such as lifting record weights. Critics pointed to his early death from stroke at the age of 40 as undermining his claims.
Prussian-born Eugen Sandow (born Friederich Wilhelm Muller, 1867-1925) created a sensation in late-nineteenth century America with his stage act of showing off his “perfect body,” performing feats of strength such as holding audience members on his back, and posing in classical positions. His photographs and post cards circulated widely and Thomas Edison featured him in an early silent film (see below). In this photograph he is admiring his bicep, a sign of narcissism of the male body that he encouraged. He coined the term “bodybuilding” and promoted his system of development in Sandow’s Magazine of Physical Culture.
French Canadian Louis Cyr (1863-1912) elevated showmanship to a higher level with highly publicized challenges such as the $25,000 offer in this poster to match skills in a public contest rather than a theatrical demonstration. Inspired by the classical narrative of Milo of Croton carrying a calf from birth to a full grown bull, he engaged in training for strongman feats. His mother encouraged him to let his grow to take the appearance of a modern-day Samson. In 1878 his family immigrated from Quebec to Lowell, Massachusetts, and at the age of eighteen, he entered his first strongman contest in Boston, lifting a horse off the ground. His claims sparked more precise record keeping of feats of strength. Documentation spurred other strength athletes to break world records, such as Cyr’s lifting a platform on his back holding 18 men for a total of 1976 kg, lifting 273 pounds in a bent press, and lifting a 534 pound weight with one finger. Today, the Arnold Strongman Classic uses a sculpture of Louis Cyr in its trophy given to the internationally recognized strength contest.
The narrative of the scrawny kid overcoming the bully and becoming sexually appealing was especially developed in North America by Italian-born Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano, 1892-1972). As a child in Brooklyn he took the name Charles and later added the last name of “Atlas” after a statue of the classical God on top of a hotel in Coney Island. His system of “Dynamic Tension” entailed resistance training of pitting muscle against muscle. In 1921 Bernarr MacFadden, publisher of Physical Culture called Charles Atlas “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man” in a contest held in Madison Square Garden. The series of famous advertisements about boys no longer being embarrassed by being skinny, or becoming a “man out of Mac,” and a “champ” instead of a “chump” promoted a definition of manhood involving muscularity and social dominance. They regularly appeared in comic books during their height of popularity during the 1940s. It advanced the narcissism established by Sandow into an American self-consciousness of the powerful body and country.
Art Livingston flexes his bicep, a symbol of strength, during the 1930s. He is wearing a body covering representing primitiveness of the strongman figure. It was familiar to American audiences through Tarzan films and the attire of circus strongmen. He is holding a barbell which became more popular in the twentieth century as gym equipment. In answer to the concern for bodybuilding inviting the gaze of men at other men, contests featured photography of women admiring strongmen, such as the one below with Galen Gough at Columbia Studios in 1934, in addition to pitting one man against another in a contest of strength as one of masculine worth.
In contemporary strongman contests, the emphasis shifted to command of strongmen over industrial symbols such as these eight Hummer tires, totaling over 1,000 pounds, being lifted by Lithuanian strongman Zydrunas Savickas (born 1975). Other demonstrations of this dominance are evident in truck, boat, and even airplane pulls. Savickas, also known as “The Big Z,” ushered in an image of the strongman also being a giant, compared especially to the earlier strongmen who were usually under six feet tall and 200 pounds. Savickas stands at 6′ 3″ and 385 pounds. The heaviest strongman contest winner is Brian Shaw who is 440 pounds and 6’8″ (winner of the 2013 World’s Strongest Man contest). Savickas won the World’s Strongest Man contest in 2009, 2010, and 2012, and the Arnold Strongman Classic six straight times from 2003 to 2008.
Part of the “naturalism” of strength athletics are the types of events that distinguish strongman contest. One of them is the “Farmer’s Walk” or “frame carry,” here being lifted up an incline at the Arnold Strongman Classic by Hershey, Pennsylvania, resident Mike Jenkins (1982-2013). Others are the yoke and barrel carry in addition to classically labeled events such as the Hercules Hold and the Atlas Stones. A risk of many strength athletes is cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart, from intense weight training. Jenkins, winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2012 experienced heart failure as a result of this condition. He set a world’s record in the hip lift event of 2,500 pounds (see Derek Poundstone, another strongman champion, lifting 2000 pounds below).
Derek Poundstone Hip Lift of 2,000 Pounds at Fortissimus Strongman of the Year