ABSTRACT
The story of the relationship between the classical and the modern body in the late 18th to early 20th century is complex. To examine the performance of its protagonists is to witness an often perplexing dance, in which every step or flex of muscle risked confounding fair with foul and foul with fair. The overwhelming majority of beauty and strength performers in the long 19th century, including dancers, actresses, strongmen, contortionists, strongwomen, wrestlers, boxers, novelty performers, artists’ models and posers of all kinds, came from working-class families. There are countless forms of classicism, and as many ways to subvert them. A photo of Sandow wearing nothing but strappy sandals leaning on a column can bear different meanings to different groups of people. The class-coding of activities and cultural products is a mysterious process, but those suggestive of ‘low’ class occupations such as sex work and manual labour, are often seen as ‘low-brow’.
