When people think about famous boxers they don't usually think of Jews. Yet between 1910 and 1940 there were 27 Jewish world champions and for years, working-class Jewish immigrants were the sport's dominant ethnic group.
This series, oil paintings and drawings of Jewish boxers by Brooklyn-based artist Charles Miller, were inspired by the artist's passion for the sport and for the stories of fighters like Jackie "Kid" Berg, a.k.a. "The Whitechapel Whirlwind," Lew Tendler, and Barney Ross, to name a few, who contributed so much to the rich history of American boxing in its Golden Age but today are all but forgotten.
The exhibit celebrates these always brave, strong and ambitious fighters, who were often simply looking for fast money to support their families or avoid sweatshop labor, much like their Irish and Italian fighting counterparts.
Each of the various sized pieces in the series features an individual Jewish boxer in period gear, sometimes bare fisted, sometimes in training mode, sometimes in the ring, but usually as if posing for a photograph. Charles Miller's Jewish Boxers, curated by Sharoz Makarechi, will be on exhibit and available to private collectors for the first time in New York City at Think Tank 3, until March 15, 2007.
The New Yorker magazine short listed this exhibit in the Goings On About Town (Art: Downtown Galleries) section and featured the painting of Al "Bummy" Davis currently on display.
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Think Tank Full of Jewels of the Ghetto
Hebrew Hammers
