The sculpture entitled “Right to the Jaw” created by artist Mahonri M. Young in 1926 actually depicted two bronze figures in the actual act of boxing . The figures clad only in boxing shorts and boxing gloves, are sculpted as convoluted images where muscles in their legs and arms were carefully crafted; and where rib cages, collar bones, and intricate facial features effectively protrude. The figure of the boxer on the right could interpreted as the recipient of the right jab; where the right hand of the boxer sculpted at the left portion had apparently slid on top of the opponent’s head. The boxer at the right exemplified a shocking pain that was received as exhibited from his open-mouthed, closed-eyed, body in open-defensed disfigured poise. The offensive stance that was manifested by the left sculpted boxer was appropriately depicted with legs wide open, left leg in front parallel to the boxer’s head which was actually situated as the center figure of both sculptures. The left boxer’s right arm was way above the body and connects to the right boxer’s figure; but where the hand became hidden from view due to the left boxer’s head, shown as the apex of the sculpture.
The sculpture stands on a pedestal which could be interpreted as the boxing ring where these two figures collide. The bareness of the boxers’ bodies were exquisitely sculpted in minute detail to showcase muscles, bone structures, facial expressions, boxers’ stance, the flimsy movement of the boxers’ shorts, the offensive strategy and the actual after shock of the right hand jab in the jaw of the boxer that obviously inflicted an excruciating pain that was profoundly and obviously depicted.
Work Cited
Young, Mahonri M. Right to the Jaw. 1926. Bronze. Brigham Young University Museum of Art.
