Sport Sculpture of R. Tait McKenzie, The-2nd Edition

by Andrew J. Kozar

This volume presents a complete catalogue of McKenzie's sport sculpture, as well as a biography of this artist, physician and teacher. The book highlights 16 of McKenzie's better-known sculptures. For each there is a page of colour photographs, the work's title, its dimensions, and notations of where it is displayed, as well as McKenzie's opinions about the work and the reactions of his critics. The book also includes black-and-white photographs of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873223365
• ISBN13: 9780873223362
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.7" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

...Bronzed...and Beautiful...

The former title for this book when it waspublished in 1975 was *R. Tait McKenzie: TheSculptor of Athletes.* Why the change? Iprefer the first title; it seems truer tothe spirit of what McKenzie was attempting.For McKenzie is celebrating, reverently yetmagnificently, the beauty, strength, and graceof the male athletic form...in the samespirit (and even in better fashion one mightsay) as the ancient sculptors of athletes inGreece. The book was published in Knoxville,Tenn., by the University of Tennessee Press. [facts and quotes from the book...]Canadian-born physician, physical educator,and sculptor, McKenzie became the directorof physical education at the University ofPennsylvania in 1904. Francis S. Grubar pointsout in his "Foreword" to Andrew Kozar's bookthat this post allowed McKenzie to achieve "anoutlet for his dedication to the physicaleducation discipline and a _modus operandi_for continuing his artistic efforts."McKenzie's style and aesthetic were closelyaligned with those of the Classical era inancient Greece, not through mere imitation butbecause his approach to the study of the athleticform and the expression of it in art was verysimilar. As Grubar says: "Robert Tait McKenzie's sculptural style was based on _an acutely perceptive fidelity to nature_[emphasis added], effectively combined with an idealism strongly influenced by his love of classical art. His thematic range was narrower than that of many artists, concentrating primarily on the depcition of the trained athlete in action or in a pose near the climactic moment of the particular event. Like Michelangelo, McKenzie focused on the youthful male figure, usually rendered nude, as the epitome of his human figure expression."At an important display of sixty of his artworks in London from 1 July to 21 August 1920,McKenzie's relationship to the classical spiritwas clearly seen and pointed out. As Kozar cites: "The editor of *Connoisseur* felt that these statuettes of athletes were scientifically true, adding that 'they were ancient Greek in spirit and style and recalled (the smaller works especially) -- the best period of Athenian art more than anything that has been shown in London during recent years.' The *Connoisseur*'s review went on to suggest that McKenzie did not so much imitate the classic Greek models as _reincarnate the spirit in which they were produced_[emphasis added]. In this work he realized the form and movement of modern athletes possessing great freedom and vigor with 'the same discriminating and artistic fidelity to nature that the Greeks applied to the athletes of their own day.'" * * * * * * * * *