Three Athletes

Jerome Thompson

The mid-1930s was an extremely busy time for Christian Petersen. Having joined the faculty in 1934, he accepted a number of major commissions for campus sculpture within a very short time. But in the midst of the Great Depression and after years of labor in industrial design, Petersen must have been delighted to be able to work full time as a sculptor. One of these assignments was the addition of three relief panels to the stairway entrance of State Gym. He chose three of the most prominent college sports, depicting young male athletes playing football and basketball and running track. The studies show how thoroughly he studied the human form in motion and how he strove to create a dynamic, yet balanced composition for the three figures. Petersen’s knowledge of human anatomy was extensive, although he rarely had the opportunity to apply it in depictions of the nude. He used his understanding to convey the complexities of the body at rest and in motion and though those, to convey emotional or narrative situations. The State Gym athletes are most closely related to the Veterinary Medicine Mural figures, in that Petersen displays an exacting knowledge of musculature in a sharply delineated style.

Adapted from: Lea Rosson DeLong “Christian Petersen’s Midwest”, 2004.

The State Gym and the old stadium (Clyde Williams Field) were places I experienced even during my college days in the 1970s. The Saturday afternoon home game cheers “All the way to Lincoln Way” and “All the way to West Street” are gone now. The stadium was torn down in 1978. I remember learning to swim at the State Gym with my father. It was truly an all-men’s gym as swim trunks were optional. Beyer Hall was built when I was in junior high and the pool there was definitely co-ed during open swim times on Saturday night. While the new gym was bright and shiny it lacked the visual statements that the Three Athletes brought to the State Gym.

-Jerome Thompson