Eugen Sandow
Encyclopedia
Eugen Sandow born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder in the 19th century and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".
, Prussia
in 1867. He left Prussia in 1885 to avoid military service and in 1889 he made his first appearance on the London stage.
Florenz Ziegfeld
knew that Maurice Grau had Sandow under a contract. Ziegfeld wanted to display Sandow at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago
. Grau wanted $1,000 a week. Ziegfeld could not guarantee $1,000 a week but agreed to paying 10 per cent of the gross receipts.
Ziegfeld found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances"... and the legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbell
s. He added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandow's routine. Sandow quickly became Ziegfeld's first star.
In 1894, Sandow featured in a short film by the Edison Studios
. The film was of only part of the show and features him flexing his muscles rather than performing any feats of physical strength. While the content of the film reflects the audience attention being primarily focused on his appearance it made use of the unique capacities of the new medium. Film theorists have attributed the appeal being the striking image of a detailed image moving in synchrony, much like the example of the Lumière brothers
' Repas de bébé
where audiences were reportedly more impressed by the movement of trees swaying in the background than the events taking place in the foreground. In 1894, he appeared in a short Kinetoscope
film that was part of the first commercial motion picture exhibition in history.
He created the Institute of Physical Culture, an early gymnasium for body builders in 1897.
In 1898 Sandow founded a monthly periodical, originally named Physical Culture and subsequently named Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
.
He held the first major bodybuilding contest at the Royal Albert Hall
on September 14, 1901. It was called the "Great Competition". It was judged by Sandow, athlete and sculptor Sir Charles Lawes
, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
.
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Putney Vale Cemetery
at the request of his wife, Blanche. In 2002, a gravestone and black marble plaque was added by Sandow admirer and author Thomas Manly. The inscription (in gold letters) read "Eugen Sandow, 1867-1925 the Father of Bodybuilding." In 2008, the grave was purchased by Chris Davies, Sandow's great-great-grandson.
Manly's items were replaced on the anniversary of Eugen Sandow's birth in 2008 and a new monument, a one and a half ton natural pink sandstone monolith was put in its place. The stone, simply inscribed "SANDOW" (in vertical letters), is a reference to the ancient Greek funerary monuments called steles
.
, Thomas Edison
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
. He was portrayed by the actor Nat Pendleton
in the Academy Award winning film
The Great Ziegfeld
(1936). Sandow was a close friend to classical pianist Martinus Sieveking
, featuring him in his book Sandow's System of Physical Training. Sieveking toured with Sandow and lived with him in New York City for a time.
As recognition of his contribution to the sport of bodybuilding, a bronze statue of Sandow sculpted by Frederick Pomeroy has been presented to the winner of the Mr. Olympia
contest, a major professional bodybuilding competition sponsored by the International Federation of Bodybuilders, since 1977. This statue is simply known as "The Sandow".
In 1994, David L. Chapman published a biography, entitled Sandow the Magnificent - Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding, in which he contends that Sandow was gay or bisexual. In 2002, Thomas Manly published For The Love Of Eugen, a ghost story featuring Sandow as the leading character.
and Roman sculpture
was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." Sandow built his physique to the exact proportions of his Grecian Ideal, and is considered the father of modern bodybuilding, as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to pre-determined dimensions. In his books Strength and How to Obtain It and Sandow's System of Physical Training, Sandow laid out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportions.
Early life
Sandow was born in KönigsbergKönigsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
in 1867. He left Prussia in 1885 to avoid military service and in 1889 he made his first appearance on the London stage.
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
knew that Maurice Grau had Sandow under a contract. Ziegfeld wanted to display Sandow at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Grau wanted $1,000 a week. Ziegfeld could not guarantee $1,000 a week but agreed to paying 10 per cent of the gross receipts.
Ziegfeld found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances"... and the legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbell
Barbell
A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, weightlifting and powerlifting. Barbells range in length from to although bars above 7' in length are used primarily by powerlifters and aren't commonplace...
s. He added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandow's routine. Sandow quickly became Ziegfeld's first star.
In 1894, Sandow featured in a short film by the Edison Studios
Edison Studios
Edison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films as the Edison Manufacturing Company and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. until the studio's closing in 1918...
. The film was of only part of the show and features him flexing his muscles rather than performing any feats of physical strength. While the content of the film reflects the audience attention being primarily focused on his appearance it made use of the unique capacities of the new medium. Film theorists have attributed the appeal being the striking image of a detailed image moving in synchrony, much like the example of the Lumière brothers
Auguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...
' Repas de bébé
Repas de bébé
Repas de bébé is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière and starring Andrée Lumière....
where audiences were reportedly more impressed by the movement of trees swaying in the background than the events taking place in the foreground. In 1894, he appeared in a short Kinetoscope
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
film that was part of the first commercial motion picture exhibition in history.
He created the Institute of Physical Culture, an early gymnasium for body builders in 1897.
In 1898 Sandow founded a monthly periodical, originally named Physical Culture and subsequently named Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture, established by Eugen Sandow in 1898, has been regarded as the first bodybuilding magazine.Founded in summer 1898 under the name Physical Culture, the magazine was renamed Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture in April 1899. Howard Spicer was editor...
.
He held the first major bodybuilding contest at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on September 14, 1901. It was called the "Great Competition". It was judged by Sandow, athlete and sculptor Sir Charles Lawes
Charles Bennett Lawes
Sir Charles Bennett Lawes-Wittewronge, 2nd Baronet was an English rower, athlete and sculptor. He exhibited twelve works at the Royal Academy....
, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
.
Death
Sandow died in London on October 14, 1925 of a stroke at age 58.He was buried in an unmarked grave in Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in London is surrounded by Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park, and is located within forty-seven acres of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938...
at the request of his wife, Blanche. In 2002, a gravestone and black marble plaque was added by Sandow admirer and author Thomas Manly. The inscription (in gold letters) read "Eugen Sandow, 1867-1925 the Father of Bodybuilding." In 2008, the grave was purchased by Chris Davies, Sandow's great-great-grandson.
Manly's items were replaced on the anniversary of Eugen Sandow's birth in 2008 and a new monument, a one and a half ton natural pink sandstone monolith was put in its place. The stone, simply inscribed "SANDOW" (in vertical letters), is a reference to the ancient Greek funerary monuments called steles
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
.
Legacy
He was befriended by the likes of King George V of the United KingdomGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
. He was portrayed by the actor Nat Pendleton
Nat Pendleton
Nathaniel Greene "Nat" Pendleton was an American Olympic wrestler and film actor.-Early life:Pendleton was born in Davenport, Iowa to Adelaide E. and Nathaniel G. Pendleton. He studied at Columbia University where he began his wrestling career. He was twice Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling...
in the Academy Award winning film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 musical film produced by MGM. A fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin...
(1936). Sandow was a close friend to classical pianist Martinus Sieveking
Martinus Sieveking
Martinus Sieveking was a classical composer and pianist. He was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.A pupil of Julius Röntgen, he was the accompanist of the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris. Though some of his many charming compositions are best described as salon music, he also wrote inventive serious...
, featuring him in his book Sandow's System of Physical Training. Sieveking toured with Sandow and lived with him in New York City for a time.
As recognition of his contribution to the sport of bodybuilding, a bronze statue of Sandow sculpted by Frederick Pomeroy has been presented to the winner of the Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
contest, a major professional bodybuilding competition sponsored by the International Federation of Bodybuilders, since 1977. This statue is simply known as "The Sandow".
In 1994, David L. Chapman published a biography, entitled Sandow the Magnificent - Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding, in which he contends that Sandow was gay or bisexual. In 2002, Thomas Manly published For The Love Of Eugen, a ghost story featuring Sandow as the leading character.
The Grecian Ideal
Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classical GreekAncient Greek sculpture
Ancient Greek sculpture is the sculpture of Ancient Greece. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages. They were used to depict the battles, mythology, and rulers of the land known as Ancient Greece.-Geometric:...
and Roman sculpture
Classical sculpture
Classical sculpture refers to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500 BC to fall of Rome in AD 476. It also refers stylistically to modern sculptures done in a classical style....
was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." Sandow built his physique to the exact proportions of his Grecian Ideal, and is considered the father of modern bodybuilding, as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to pre-determined dimensions. In his books Strength and How to Obtain It and Sandow's System of Physical Training, Sandow laid out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportions.
Publications
- Sandow's System of Physical Training
- Body-Building
- Strength and Health
- Life is Movement
- The Construction and Reconstruction of the Human Body
- Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
See also
- List of male professional bodybuilders
- List of female professional bodybuilders
- Martinus SievekingMartinus SievekingMartinus Sieveking was a classical composer and pianist. He was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.A pupil of Julius Röntgen, he was the accompanist of the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris. Though some of his many charming compositions are best described as salon music, he also wrote inventive serious...
- Strongman (strength athlete)Strongman (strength athlete)In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...
Further reading
- Chapman, David, "Eugen Sandow and the Birth of Bodybuilding", HardgainerHardgainer (magazine)Hardgainer magazine was a weight training magazine for hardgainers .-History:Hardgainer was available only through subscription, and was initially published on a bi-monthly basis starting with the July-August, 1989 issue...
(May 1993) - Chapman, David, Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
, 1994) - Waller, David, The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow, Victorian Strongman (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2011)
External links
- EugenSandow.com
- Eugen Sandow & The Golden Age of Iron Men
- Works by or about Eugen Sandow at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated) - Eugene Sandow in several famous poses: 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8., 9., 10.
- VictorianStrongman.com