Jack Johnson fighting (Boxing)

Signed on the base: “N. Beltrami”

Provenance: Milan, private collection

Exhibition: Sindacato Interprovinciale Fascista di Belle Arti, Turin, 1935, no. 370.

Born in a small village in Piedmont, he trained at the Regia Accademia Albertina in Turin and for a time frequented the studio of sculptor Edoardo Rubino, thus beginning his plastic work in the field of funerary and commemorative works. In 1925 he exhibited for the first time at the Promotrice di Belle Arti in Turin with the work In prayer and in 1927 at the Circolo degli Artisti in the same city. In 1930 he was awarded a prize at the Mostra d’Arte Decorativa in Monza with The Angel. In 1932 his bronzetto The Victory was admitted to the Venice Biennale, where he participated again in 1956 with five terracotta works. If until the 1920s his production was strongly linked to funerary and celebratory art with elements of symbolism, from the early 1930s he began to experiment in the world of ceramics. He produced some models for the Lenci artistic ceramics factory in Turin and for Richard-Ginori in Mondovì. They are pretty statuettes such as damsels with animals and flowers (Dame with pigeon), playful female nudes (The pear; Pumpkin flower) or religious figures.
The author of the monument to the Fallen of Saint Vincent, from the 1930s onwards, approached the lesson of Arturo Martini and the bronze statues he made in this period can be traced back to this new sensibility, in particular two small bronzes with a sports theme such as The Footballer and The Boxer. This was not so unusual: the focus on athletes and sporting champions was linked to the fascist regime’s interest in sporting activities and agonism; after all, Giacomo Balla had also portrayed boxing champion Primo Carnera in a 1934 portrait.

At the 1935 Sindacale di Torino, Beltrami proposed this bronze work portraying the boxer Jack Johnson (1878-1946). A figure who entered boxing history, as well as a symbol of black racial pride at the beginning of the 20th century, especially since Jim Crow laws were still in force at that time. Born in Texas into a family of former slaves, at the age of 19 he won the black heavyweight world title, the only one granted to African-American athletes in the United States. In 1908, he was the first black boxer to win the heavyweight boxing world cup, defeating reigning champion Tommy Burns. However, his moment of greatest glory came in 1910, when he faced the champion James J. Jeffries, who was white. In what was called “the fight of the century”, Johnson emerged victorious and this made his name even more famous, as well as bringing many other black world champions into the boxing scene of the time. Nicknamed The Galveston Giant, he held the world title for almost seven years and his extravagant lifestyle helped to make him one of the first examples of the “modern champion”, also thanks to the success he had with the press. He was arrested on a pretext in 1912, accused of violating the Mann Act, which prohibited “bringing women from one state to another” for “immoral purposes”. The woman in question, Lucille Cameron, who was to become his second wife, was white. The charges were certainly racially motivated and, although there was a lack of evidence, a jury composed exclusively of whites sentenced him to one year in prison. Johnson tried to avoid arrest by leaving the USA and living in exile in Canada with his wife until 1920. In the same year he turned himself in to the authorities and, after serving his sentence, returned to the fight. An unbridled automobile enthusiast, he died in a car accident in June 1946. The International Boxing Hall of Fame inducted him among the greatest boxers of all time.
It is now May 2018, 105 years after his conviction, that US President Donald Trump pardoned Johnson in a ceremony at which Sylvester Stallone was also present. After all, the parable of his life has become an example not only for the African-American people but also for the freedom of human rights: in a documentary on his biography, director Ken Burns declared that “for more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous African-American on Earth”. The film To Go Lower, starring James Earl Jones and released in 1970, is dedicated to him. The following year, jazz musician Miles Davis released the album A Tribute to Jack Johnson, the soundtrack of the documentary of the same name.

From the 1950s onwards, Beltrami’s production took a radical turn: at the 1952 Quadriennale d’Arte in Turin, he presented brick sculptures for the first time, which he called expressionist/impressionist. Solo exhibitions of his sculptures were held in 1953 at the Galleria Montenapoleone in Milan, in 1954 at the Galleria Cavallino in Venice and in 1955 in Turin at the Galleria La Bussola. In the 1960s, Beltrami devoted himself to teaching, first at the Institute for Ceramics in Castellamonte and then, from 1963 to 1969, at the Liceo Artistico and the Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti in Turin.

Annalisa P. Cignitti