A Historical Inquiry on the Art Competitions in the Modern Olympic Games : On the (Im)possibility of Reconciliation between Art and Sport

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the history of the "art competitions" in the modern Olympics, and thus to cast a new light on the boundary problem between art and sport. Pierre de Coubertin, the principal founder of the modern Olympics, held up an ideal of reunification of muscle and mind, and proposed to introduce five art competitions -in architecture, sculpture, painting, music and literature- within the course of the Olympic games. Then "art competitions" were successfully held in seven Olympiads from 1912 to 1948; but they were replaced by "art exhibitions" without medals from the Helsinki Olympics (1952) onward. In spite of Courbertin's personal enthusiasm for art, some of the IOC members remained skeptical of the art competitions, mainly because they seemed incompatible with the amateurism policy of the Olympics: participants therein were professional artists in most cases, and the prizewinning artworks were often traded openly at high prices. Added to this issue, art was condemned for lack of the qualification to rank with the Olympic sports, from the viewpoints that it has no uniform rules and no clear criteria for evaluation like athletic games, and that prizewinning artists are in general much older as compared to athletes, violating the Olympic ideal of "youthfulness." The introduction and abolition of the Olympic art competitions thus suggests the fundamental discrepancy in cultural and social status between art and sport, while our attention is too often directed merely to their alikeness or affinity.