Deaf from scarlet fever at the age of four, American sculptor Douglas Tilden’s (1860-1935) famous bronze sculpture “The Football Players” was completed in Paris in 1893, where it won a medal at the Paris Exposition. “One of the first permanent artworks on the University of California, Berkeley campus. San Francisco Mayor Phelan had purchased a casting of The Football Players and announced that it would be awarded to the college which won the Big Game two years in a row. After Cal defeated Stanford in 1898 and 1899, the monument was dedicated on 12 May 1900.” – Wikipedia

Sigismund Blumann’s 1926 aquamarine bromoil print, with a stand of oak trees enveloping the sculptures backdrop, is titled The Injured Athlete University of California Campus Statue. As in other works by the photographer, including his bronze figural fountain vista Fountain of the Bacchanti– actually titled Wind and Spray, by American sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd, naming convention was just one element he considered with the aim of creating a finished print. With the goal of eliciting emotion, combined with his advanced darkroom techniques, examples like this stand out. What is a bit obscure in Blumann’s photograph- the detail of the kneeling football player on the plinth wrapping the other players leg below the knee- is superseded by his actual goal of making the entire scene a pictorialistic dreamscape for the viewer. 

The following newspaper article was published in the San Francisco Call on January 26, 1899, a year before Tilden’s statue was dedicated on the University of California campus:

DOUGLAS TILDEN’S famous statue, “The Football Player,” Is here. It is on exhibition at the Art Institute and Secretary Martin, with his usual regard for the public pleasure, has had it placed where all may enjoy the rare work of art.

On the first landing, at the head of the first flight of stone steps that leads to the institute, resting on a rude though substantial pedestal, “The Football Player’ will challenge the admiration of all. The placing is excellent. The strong light beats down on all sides, showing with impartiality, all the points of the magnificent anatomy of the bronze athlete.

In his “Football Player’ Tilden has sacrificed the real to the ideal and has clothed his man in a garb that is a cross between a bathing suit and a golf costume. If it were not for the ball and the football bang the artist might have called his latest work by any other name and have had it sound as well.

“The Football Player,’ which is the property of James D. Phelan, is to be presented by the Mayor to the university- University of California or Stanford University-which will win two out of the series of three football games, the first of which was played on last Thanksgiving day.

Until the award is made the Mayor has arranged that the statue shall be on exhibition at the Art Institute.

This is the fourth piece of the great sculptor’s work to find a place in his native State. One statue, “The Tired Boxer,” is the property of the Olympic Club, “The Baseball Player” is at the Park and “The Bear Hunt’ ornaments the grounds of the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Berkeley, where the distinguished sculptor was educated.

Douglas Tilden: 1860-1935 … was an American sculptor. He was deaf from a bout of scarlet fever at the age of four and attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, California (now in Fremont, California). He sculpted many statues that are located today throughout San Francisco, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. – Wikipedia (2024)