Re-uniting Sport and Art: The Potential of Olympic Posters

• Authors: John Hughson
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the Modern Olympic Games, envisioned the Olympic occasion as being about more than sport. He regarded the underlying idea of the Olympic Games, Olympism, as a ‘cult of humanity’, concerned with the pursuit of excellence in both sport and art. The presentation examines how Olympic posters have been, and may continue to be, used to carry on de Coubertin's ambition for the marriage of sport and art in modern times. A case is made for viewing the Olympic poster as an object with aesthetic worth and thus apart from its instrumental purpose as a ‘promotional vehicle for Olympic Games’. Problematic questions, such as whether or not Olympic posters can be viewed in detachment from the political regimes that effectively endorse them, are addressed in the discussion.

Keywords

EN

art; poster; Olympic Games

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 50
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 60-65

Dates

published

1 - 12 - 2010

online

23 - 12 - 2010

Contributors

author

John Hughson

• University of Central Lancashire, UK

References

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• Stanton, R. (2000). The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions: the Story of the Olympic Art Competitions of the 20th Century. Victoria, BC: Trafford.
• The Arts Festival of the Olympic Games Melbourne (1956). Melbourne: The Olympic Civic Committee of the Melbourne City Council.
• Timmers, M. (1998). Introduction. In M. Timmers (Ed.), The Power of the Poster (pp. 8-10). London: V&A Publications.
• Timmers, M. (2008). A Century of Olympic Posters. London: V&A Publishing.
• Tomlinson, A. (2007). Sport and Design: Meanings, Values, Ideologies. In A. Tomlinson & J. Woodham (Eds.), Image, Power and Space: Studies in Consumption and Identity (pp. 115-35). Aachen: Meyer and Meyer.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10141-010-0030-0