What do sports and art have in common? This question might leave you scratching your head. Is art a sport? Is art a competition?
It is not widely known that art competitions have been part of the Olympics Games from 1912 to 1948. Each host city would establish a jury to judge aspiring artists' submissions. Like in the sports competitions, the best artworks were awarded a medal. This competition was the brainchild of the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Frédy, who believed that competitions of the mind and body should take place at the same time. He saw the expression of human creativity as fundamentally important as physical movement. One might even argue that the immaterial nature of thoughts and artistic invention is the origin of anything created physically in our world.
The Art Olympics: From Inception to Popularity
Initially, the concept of an art competition was meant to be part of the modern Olympics when they were first reintroduced in 1894. However, it was only due to lack of funding and other factors that it was finally set up for the Summer Olympics of 1912 in Stockholm. It was only because of a technicality that they were discontinued decades later. For the first run of the competition, only thirty-five artists submitted artworks. However, the popularity of the competitions changed over the following years, and the number of participating artists increased significantly. By the time the 1924 Olympics came around, the art sports were no longer a sidekick of the sports competitions but a cultural highlight. In this year, over one hundred and ninety artists had entered. Only four years later, in 1928, over one thousand artists entered the competition.
Categories of Art Competitions at the Olympics
Classic oil paintings were a particularly popular category in the Olympic art competitions. Just like in the sports events, medals were handed out to the winners and runners-up of the painting competitions. Participants came from all around the world to compete for the honor of taking home one of these prestigious awards.
Painting
The painting was the most prestigious category in the entire Olympic art competition. Initially, it was only allowed to submit paintings. However, this category was later subdivided into painting, drawing, and graphic art. This allowed more artists to participate and made it an excellent opportunity for artists and designers who wanted to get themselves noticed by the public.
Geometric shapes painting and architectural paintings were especially popular among the participants, as these styles often feature bold colors and lines to draw the eye and make a statement.
Like the status painting had throughout art history, painting was considered the most important of the arts during this competition, comparable to perhaps running in the ancient Olympics. It was probably for this simple reason that this category attracted the most attention and submissions.
Architecture
Perhaps the architecture competition was the most unique category of the entire art Olympics. It tasked its competitors with an extensive set of challenging tasks, such as town planning, stadium construction, and building design.
Competitors in this category could work in teams and collaborate to enter a singular submission. Another exciting aspect was that architectural designs which had already been published or built could also be submitted. For example, the architect was awarded the gold medal in 1928 and received it for designing the Olympic Stadium where the games were taking place that year.
Sculpture
Sculpture is closely tied to our idea of the culture of ancient Greece, where the Olympic Games were initially conceived. Still today, almost everyone in Western culture will be able to spot a sculpture from antiquity straight away as they seem omnipresent in Europe and the US.
Of all the categories competing in the art Olympics, sculpture was undeniably one of the most challenging art sports. It required more time, patience, precision, and skill than any other competition category. For this reason, the participants were judged solely on the skill and craftsmanship of their work and the difficulty of their attempted sculpture.
Music
In the Olympics, this art sport focused primarily on instrumental and orchestral music, although categories such as vocal music were added later. Moreover, it is fascinating to note that the pieces of music entered by the competitors were initially entered and judged on paper. It was only later on that they were played to an audience.
In this Olympic art competition, participants would be judged on various elements. The structural composition of the music, as well as its complexity, inspiration, theme, scope, and uniqueness, would all be considered by the judges. Due to the complexity of the judgment scheme, music was the category where the fewest medals were awarded.
Literature
Literature is arguably the one category in the art Olympics that owes the most to ancient Greece as the nucleus of Western philosophy, medicine, politics, and literature. Moreover, the literary works of the Greek thinkers continuously inspired writers throughout the centuries.
In the Olympic art competition, the literature competition was broken up into several categories, such as drama, poetry, and storytelling. There was a word limit of 20,000 words, and work could be submitted in any language, although it had to be accompanied by either an English or French translation or summary.
Artists Who Participated in the Olympic Art Competition
Many artists participated in these competitions. However, only a few of them won medals. In this section, we will present five of them and some interesting facts related to their participation.
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky participated in the Olympic Art Competition in the 1928 Olympics, where he won a gold medal for his abstract paintings. He was a pioneer of abstract art and his participation in the competition helped to bring recognition to this new style of art. His participation in the Olympic Art Competition also helped to highlight the importance of art in the Olympic movement, promoting the idea that creativity and culture are just as important as athletic competition.
Jean Jacoby
The Luxemburg painter Jean Jacoby is regarded as the most successful artist of the art Olympics, the only one having won two gold medals. He won his first in the 1924 games for his painting ''Étude de Sport'' and his second four years later in 1928 for his drawing titled ''Rugby''.
Alfréd Hajós
Alfréd Hajós was a Hungarian athlete; he is one of only two participants to have won medals in both the sport and art competitions. In 1896 he won two gold medals for swimming, and then some twenty-eight years later, Alfréd won a silver medal in architecture for his stadium design alongside co-designer Dezsó Lauber.
Aale Maria Tynni
The Finnish author Aale Tyne is one of only eleven women to win a medal in the history of the art Olympics, and she is the only one to have won a gold medal. Throughout her career, she was widely renowned for her poetry and, at the 1948 Summer Olympics, took home the gold medal in the literature category.
John Copley
The British engraver John Copley holds a special place in the Olympic records. He won the silver medal for his country, but he was also seventy-three years old, making him the oldest Olympic medalist in the history of the games. Indeed an inspirational feat.
Paintings from the Olympic Art Competition
The paintings from the events serve as a testament to the power of art to inspire, educate, and unite people across national and cultural boundaries, as they were created by artists from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives who shared a common passion for the Olympic ideals of excellence, friendship, and respect.
Jean Jacoby (LUX) "Rugby"
As the art Olympics most successful painter, Jean Jacoby stands out above the rest. Both of his winning works involve sports that were performed in the games themselves. Jacoby tried to win a third medal in the 1932 games but fell short. However, he has created many other drawings and paintings of events throughout the games.
Alex Diggelmann (SWI) "Arosa I Placard"
Swiss artist Alex Diggelmann won a gold, silver, and bronze medal in two Olympic games. His gold medal-winning was for a catchy graphics poster titled Arosa I Placard, which was designed in his iconic style.
Jack B. Yeats (IRE) "The Liffey Swim"
Jack B. Yeats's impressionist painting of a swim race in Dublin's main river landed him the silver medal in 1924. This was a historical victory since it was the first Olympic medal since Irish independence.
Wassily Kandinsky (RU) "Abstract Composition"
Wassily Kandinsky submitted several works under the title "Abstract Composition", which was a characteristic of his style. His winning entry showcased his use of vivid colors and bold shapes, which helped to establish him as a leading figure in the art world.
Lee Blair (USA) "Rodeo"
In the 1932 competition, American artist Lee Everett Blair took home the gold medal. He was the brother of Preston Blair and the husband of Mary Blair, both of which worked as animators for Walt Disney. Since his painting ''Rodeo'' was heavily America-themed and the Olympics were taking place in Los Angeles, the jury might not have been as impartial as hoped.
Alfred Thomson (GBR) "London Amateur Championships"
British artist Alfred Reginald Thomson took home the gold medal in the last art Olympics in 1948 for his painting titled ''London Amateur Championships''. It is an exciting oil painting of the boxing final where one boxer is edging toward victory and has the other boxer against the ropes.
Conclusion
Introducing an art competition into the Olympic games added an extra element of splendor and humanity that is sorely lacking today. Their addition embodied what the Olympics is truly all about (the very best of humankind's abilities), and perhaps they will be reintroduced to the competition sometime in the future. At 1st Art Gallery, you can find replicas of famous paintings of Olympic winners.