Art Olympics

[via Modern Art Notes]

David Colker at the LA Times has an article about when there were fine arts competitions in the Olympics:

The arts competition debuted at the 1912 Games in Stockholm where an American, Walter Winans, won the gold for sculpture. But he didn't stop there.

Winans also took silver in the 100-meter team running single shots competition, thus becoming the only Olympian in history to win both for sculpture and shooting.

. . .

At the 1932 L.A. Games, the arts component had 540 entries from 24 countries. No chants of "USA" accompanied the competition. Teams of judges quietly evaluated the works, all of which had to have a sports theme.

. . .

The arts competitions lasted until the 1948 Olympics in London. After that, there were arts festivals held in conjunction with the Games, but no Olympic medals were given.

The demise of the competitions came under the administration of the iron-fisted Avery Brundage, who became president of the International Olympic Committee in 1952. He championed amateurism and expressed doubts that many of the artists who had participated in the Games were pure nonprofessionals.

Stanton, an amateur historian from Aptos, Calif., who self-published his extensive history of the subject, said Brundage might have had an ulterior motive -- resentment.

"He had entered in the literature category twice," said Stanton, 65. "The best he got was an honorable mention."

Semi-related, an earlier posting about an art reality show competition.