The identities of Gertler’s boxers remain uncertain. Although in May 1926, the oil version was included in Gertler’s exhibition at the Goupil Gallery under the titled Carpentier and Beckett, the two fighters only met after the completion of the work, so that this title was probably given retrospectively, either by the artist or his dealer, Marchand, to give a more authentic flavour to the work.

Gertler executed four works of boxers in 1918: the (rarely-seen) watercolour study and its closely related oil in which two boxers spar in the ring, the apparently-related pastel study of a single boxer, and a further oil of two boxers, which includes the exclusively-male crowd in evening-dress, behind. Watercolour and pastel are both rare in Gertler’s oeuvre, but perhaps allowed the artist to work quickly and fluidly to observe the fighters directly. Both of the first two compositions appear posed and were probably executed in situ.

In the loosely-painted watercolour study, two figures press up close against the ropes, their arms apparently raised in punch and counter-punch and their legs entangled. Gertler does not include their feet so it is not possible to see if they wear boots but their hands appear to be bound in wraps. The oil is also executed in loose, diagonal strokes and retains the sketchy technique of the watercolour study, perhaps to imply action, while the ring looms up behind the fighters in dramatically compressed perspective so that the figures stand out more strongly. Yet they appear less engaged than in the study and the focus, as in Gertler’s sculpture, Acrobats, is on the interaction between them. In both works the men are depicted impersonally: with small heads, bull necks, muscular upper frames and huge thighs. Though more muscular, they are not dissimilar to Gertler’s figures in Bathers of 1917-18. Many of these works are also set against a rectangular backdrop, whether pond or ring, often Study for the Boxers, 1918 using a compressed perspective reminiscent of Bomberg’s Mud Bath (1914, Tate), though Gertler never embraces the near abstraction of Bomberg’s figures.

Gertler wrote to Carrington about the oil in December 1918, ‘[St. John] Hutchinson came here today – he seemed to like what I showed him of my work. He is thinking of buying the Boxers. As I did it, in spite of its size, in a comparatively short time, I am only asking £35 for it.’

Gertler’s Seated Boxer clearly relates to the two Boxers compositions as well as to the wider groups of sporting and dancing figures he completed in this period and all three works share the same palette (in spite of the varying media). In contrast to the figures in action however, the hulking form of his seated boxer, whose head rests on his powerful chest in either exhaustion or defeat, fills the picture frame with an image of arrested power, emphasised by the bold, blue outline to the figure. The choice of pastels as a medium also imparts a tenderness to the resting figure.

Sporting subjects and circus figures were popular among Gertler’s contemporaries. Bomberg, from 1912 onwards, depicted a variety of figures in action, including wrestlers (Ju-Jitsu, c. 1913), boxers, dancers, acrobats (Acrobats, 1913-14) and bathers (The Mud Bath, 1914), derived directly from the local East End entertainments frequented by the ‘Whitechapel boys’ and interpreted in a proto-Vorticist idiom. In addition to his boxers, Gertler also went on to depict ballet dancers (1918-19), circus performers (1918-19), footballers (1919-20) and bathers (1917- 1919), though not until after he left the East End and employing an experimental but figurative approach. These works, rarely seen together, have rightly been called ‘the peak of adventurousness in his life’s work’.

These subjects were not the preserve of the ‘Whitechapel Boys’, but a staple of the early modernists and their enthusiasm for illustrating all aspects of modern life. Gaudier-Brzeska’s sculpture Wrestlers (1914) is a likely influence on Gertler’s only surviving sculpture, The Acrobats and Gertler’s boxers with their thick necks, small heads and interlocking arms and legs also closely resemble his acrobats.