Reverse Headlock c. 1931

Joseph Webster Golinkin made this image, "Reverse Headlock", and when exactly is anyone's guess, but the mood makes me think of those hard-edged, monochrome images from the depression era. I imagine him working quickly, cross-hatching the dark shadows, leaving areas untouched for highlights, the drama of a split second frozen in ink. The lithographic crayon seems to dance across the paper, rendering bodies in a brutal ballet. Look at the textures, the way the lines vary, from the heavy darks of the crowd to the light rendering of the referee's face, Golinkin has captured not just an image, but a feeling of the time. The ring ropes cut through the image, dividing the space, adding a sense of claustrophobia. That tangle of lines above the ring, suggesting the roof structure is rendered in a similar way to the figures, as though the wrestlers are part of the building itself. I’m reminded of George Bellows, another artist drawn to the raw energy of boxing, though Golinkin's take feels more personal, more like a memory etched in ink. It’s not just about the fight; it's about the grit, the sweat, the hardscrabble lives on display.