Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Art competitions were held as part of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes.

The art exhibition was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 15 July to 14 August, and displayed works of art from 27 different countries. The literature competition attracted 44 entries, and the music competition had 36 entries. [cite book |title=The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad |author=(ed.) Lord Burghley |publisher=Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad |location=London |year=1951 |pages=pp. 195–198, 535–537 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1948/OR1948.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-03-25]

The art competitions included multiple subcategories for each of the five artistic categories. [cite web |title=Olympic Art Competition 1948 London |work=Olympic Games Museum |author=Wagner, Juergen |url=http://olympic-museum.de/art/1948.htm |accessdate=2008-03-26] The judges declined to award any medals for dramatic works in literature, and no gold medals in another five subcategories. Alex Diggelmann of Switzerland won both a silver medal and a bronze medal for two different entries in the applied arts and crafts subcategory, a feat unlikely to be duplicated in any event in the current Olympic program.

These would be the final Games in which art competitions were held, after being in the official program for all Games since 1912. [cite journal |title=In Search of the Lost Champions of the Olympic Art Contests |last=Kramer |first=Bernhard |journal=Journal of Olympic History |volume=12 |issue=2 |year=2004 |month=May |pages=pp. 29–34 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv12n2/johv12n2m.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-03-25] At a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in 1949, it was decided to hold art "exhibitions" instead, as it was judged illogical to permit professionals to compete in the art competitions but only amateurs were permitted to compete in sporting events. [cite journal |title=Report on Art Exhibitions |last=Bolanaki |first=A. |journal=Bulletin du Comité International Olympique |issue=27 |year=1951 |month=June |pages=p. 34 |publisher=International Olympic Committee |location=Lausanne |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1951/BDCE27/BDCE27l.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-03-26] Since 1952, a non-competitive art and cultural festival has been associated with each Games.

Architecture

Painting and graphic art

References