Bodybuilders - Part 33a

Deriaz Brothers, part 1

The Deriaz brothers were a family of seven brothers born in Switzerland in the late 1800s who moved to France and made names for themselves as strongmen and wrestlers.

Adrien Deriaz, seen above on the cover of La Culture Physique magazine, 1906, was not the most famous of the brothers, but he seems to have posed for the most nude photos.

Here he is in a 1905 issue of the same magazine.

Adrien won the Wrestling Championship of France in 1906.  In the one-armed clean and jerk (a weightlifting event) he could lift 223 pounds.

I don't know who took this photo of Adrien in 1899, but the result is very pleasing.

Adrien Deriaz in a photo by Joseph Rosmond, Paris, c. 1915.

The photographer here is identified only as M.F., Paris.

Paul Richer, who took the photos in my series of athletes in the 1900 Olympics, also took several photos of Adrien Deriaz.  This one is called "Adrian Deriaz as the Barberini Faun", with Adrien copying the languid pose of that ancient sculpture.

Richer also took some photos of Adrien, at right above, with his brothers.  The brother at left was not named, but it might be Maurice.

More photos of Maurice and the other Deriaz brothers tomorrow.