Although a native of Koenigsberg, Germany, Eugen Sandow left an indelible mark on American life. Born Friedrich Wilhelm Muller, on April 2, 1867, he became one of the most popular and influential men of his age throughout the world through his activities that gave rise to the modern conceptualization of what we now term bodybuilding. Sandow traveled Europe as an acrobat, artist's model, and wrestler, before achieving prominence in England as a strongman/physique artist in the latter stages of the nineteenth century.

While Eugen Sandow's stage act consisted of the standard weightlifting feats of the era's strongmen, he achieved his greatest recognition for artistic physique posing, in which he displayed hitherto unseen muscular definition and vascularity. In contrast to the barrel-chested and pot-bellied weightlifters of the age, he popularized a new physical ideal that captured the imagination of turn-of-the-century men and women. Appearing on stage...