Sandow's System of Physical Training

Victorian bodybuilder Eugen Sandow’s guide to physical training provides an example of the ways in which photographs could be used in how-to manuals. To consider the advantages of photography for this purpose, compare this volume to The Art of Swimming from 1764.

Sandow’s guide is richly illustrated with photographs, reproduced by the halftone process and supplemented with engravings that contribute additional meanings. For example, notice how the two different media on pages 28 and 29 complement each other by making an implicit connection between the idealized nudes of classical sculpture and Sandow’s living body, with Sandow’s active body clearly superseding the inert stones portrayed in the engraving. These connections continue throughout the book, with Sandow striking poses borrowed from classical sculpture.  

The photographs of Sandow’s body also call attention to a persistent problem with the nude in photography. While nude figures were welcome in painted representations hanging on the walls of art galleries, representing the nude in photography—in all its indexical glory—was another story altogether. 

A full scan of Sandow's guide is available through the Internet Archive.