A Female Medallist at the 1928 Olympic Art Competitions: The Sculptress Renée Sintenis

Abstract

Olympic Art Competitions were part of the Olympic programme for 36 years in the first half of the twentieth century. According to sport history research, one of the reasons for their suspension was the participation of unknown artists. A careful analysis of the sources used by sport historians reveals that little is known about the artists. Even less is known about female artists in this context. Investigating the example of the German sculptress Renée Sintenis (1888–1965), medallist of the 1928 Olympic Art Competitions, is an attempt to address this research gap. Biographical research about the sculptress provides art historical evidence for her successful career, her impressive oeuvre and her outstanding societal position as a female artist; and, in doing so, backs up the publications by sport historians. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the circumstances under which female artists participated in the Olympic Art Competitions, evidencing that the artistic competitions had not been a topic on the agenda of the International Olympic Committee. Importantly, it also demonstrates that Pierre de Coubertin’s artistic family environment influenced his thinking about female artists in the Olympic Art Competitions.     

The Aesthetics of The Olympic Art Competitions

In the Olympic Art Competitions (1912–1948) Pierre de Coubertin expresses his conception of both sport and art as instruments of moral renewal. In this paper, this conception is criticised for failing to appreciate art and sport as necessary manifestations of modernism. The Art Competitions were informed by a traditionalist aesthetic, and thus played a highly conservative role within Olympism. A modernist art about sport, in contrast, would have been a source of critical reflection, potentially protecting the Olympic movement from corrupting exploitation by commercial and nationalistic interests. The conclusion defends the need for Cultural Olympiads, as a source of such critical reflection, that are at once modernist in conception and yet, unlike their current expression, are centrally about sport.     

21世纪三届奥运会会徽的比较研究

现代奥林匹克运动的创始人顾拜旦曾经指出,奥林匹克运动＂并非只是增强肌肉力量,它也是智力与艺术的＂。奥运会徽是奥林匹克文化艺术中必不可少的组成部分,是奥林匹克文化的象征。本文从会徽艺术设计的文化理念、艺术风格的展现及作为标志本身所具有的独特特点出发对新世纪的三届会徽进行了深入地分析和解读,旨在使人们更加深刻地认识奥运会徽在奥林匹克运动中的重要地位。     

顾拜旦体育思想研究系列之五--顾拜旦与奥林匹克运动会

顾拜旦是现代奥林匹克运动的创始人，他以毕生的精力从事复兴古代奥运会的事业，终于取得成功。他不仅是一位思想家和理论家，同时也是一位实践家。本文作者从以下几个方面来论述：恢复奥运会的时代背景和动机；恢复奥运会的启动步骤；顾拜旦是现代奥运会的总设计师；现代奥运和古代奥运的异同；恢复奥运会的伟大意义。     

Art Works as Sources for Sport History Research: The Example of ‘Sports Allegory/The Crowning of the Athletes’ by Charles Louis Frédy de Coubertin

Abstract

Sport historians rarely use works of art as sources for their research. The main challenge they face is the difficulty to draw information and insights from the paintings that lie beyond what is apparent at first glance. This paper introduces the art historical methodology of iconological analysis that is of benefit to sport historians. This three-step approach is a tool for interpreting art works and contextualizing them with relevant biographical and societal information that influenced the artist’s life and work. The art work analyzed in this paper is the painting ‘Sports Allegory/The Crowning of the Athletes’ by Pierre de Coubertin’s father, the artist Charles Louis Frédy de Coubertin (1822–1908). This painting was chosen because of its relevance and importance to Olympic history. Up to now this piece has not been critically analyzed in sport history, and hence hardly any documentation on it can be found.     

顾拜旦的奥林匹克“唯美“主义——1906年奥林匹克会议关于艺术、文学与体育结合讨论的研究

现代奥林匹克运动之父顾拜旦,由于受到古希腊唯美文化、家庭艺术背景、欧洲现代艺术、欧洲哲学美学理论的影响,成为了奥林匹克应与艺术结缘最积极和最坚定的倡导者。为了加速这一倡导的实现,顾拜旦于1906年5月23日在巴黎发起召开了关于艺术,文学与体育关系的研讨会。顾拜旦邀请了不同领域的专家、学者参与会议。讨论范围涉及了社会、文化、哲学、体育、艺术、美学的话题。大会通过了七项决议。大会一致同意体育应与艺术结合,提高体育的审美价值和艺术氛围。尽管会议决议,从1912年开始的奥林匹克的艺术比赛在1948年终止,但大会的价值为奥林匹克运动奠定了美学理论基础,1906大会具有现代奥林匹克运动发展的里程碑意义。     

顾拜旦体育思想研究系列之四--教育是顾拜旦体育思想的核心

顾拜旦是一位伟大的教育家，他复兴奥运是从教育出发的，也可以说，这是他教育改革思想的发展。本文从以下4个方面论述这一问题：①顾拜旦是一位伟大的教育家；②顾拜旦复兴奥运的出发点是教育；③奥林匹克主义离不开教育；④奥林匹克教育是奥林匹克运动的重要组成部分。     

Hellenism and Olympism: Pierre de Coubertin and the Greek Challenge to the Early Olympic Movement

The aim of this paper is to examine the deeper processes that contributed to the incorporation of Hellenistic ideals and Anglo-Saxon values into the ideology of Olympism, especially at the end of the nineteenth century. It focuses on Baron Pierre de Coubertin's ideas, motives and actions as expressed in his published articles and personal correspondence, principally on the grounds that ‘modern Olympism was conceived’ by him. 1 1. Olympic Charter (Lausanne, 2004), p. 7. This commentary draws on a detailed analysis of a sample of 201 texts written by de Coubertin between 1894 and 1937. As evidenced in the documents that were analysed, an eclectic approach to Olympism may be interpreted not simply as a reflection of the admiration of de Coubertin for these sets of values, but rather more significantly as part of his discursive strategy to appeal to and gain the support of the governing body of the IOC and its adherents, as well as to safeguard the games from other influences.     

The Olympic Creation As a Sacred Story: History and Myth in Jens Lind's Documentary The Sunshine Olympics 1912

The purpose of this article is to analyse Jens Lind's hour-long documentary film The Sunshine Olympics 1912 from a mythical-religious perspective, and show its underlying myth of creation. This perspective is inspired by Mircea Eliade's theory of myth and the sacred, as it can be found in his work on religious phenomenology and the history of religions. The article shows how the related meanings – homologies – occur at different levels of the story. Through Lind's use of voice-over narration, narrative structure, personal focus, visual metaphors and various recurring motifs, existential meanings are generated at different levels from an individual to a cosmological dimension. In accordance with Eliade's theories, the three main athletes depicted in the documentary, Greta Johansson, Jim Thorpe, and Kenneth McArthur, become exemplary models of the Olympic spirit. Three Olympic creators are also presented in the film: Pierre de Coubertin, Viktor Balck, and Torben Grut.     

The First International Recreation Congress in Los Angeles in 1932 and Its Importance as a Stage for the National Recreation Association and the International Olympic Committee

In 1932, as a prelude to the Los Angeles Olympics, an international gathering of supporters of ‘Sport for All’ held the first International Recreation Congress. The meeting sought to revive the original connection established during the early decades of the Olympic Movement by the Baron Pierre de Coubertin between the elite sporting spectacles he created and his commitment to active mass recreation for modern societies. The International Olympic Committee had a long and complex relationship with ‘Sport for All’ programmes, as revealed in this initial meeting of mass recreation enthusiasts and the subsequent congresses that followed. The International Olympic Committee leaders who inherited Coubertin's mantle used the recreation conclave to push the responsibility of implementing ‘sport for all’ onto other agencies rather than returning the Olympic Movement to the centre of the struggle – as Coubertin desired. While scholars have paid considerable attention to other elements of the 1932 Los Angeles games, the International Recreation Congress has been neglected, even though it created important legacies for the struggles between elite and mass sport during the rest of the twentieth century.     

顾拜旦体育思想研究系列之一--顾拜旦生平及其时代背景

顾拜旦的伟大一生是奉献给教育改革事业和恢复奥林匹运动的一生。他的生平可分为4个阶段：童年与学生时代；复兴奥林匹克运动的准备时期；推行奥林匹克运动的实践时期；总结奥运和继续从事教育改革时期。本文最后介绍了顾拜旦的婚姻和家庭。     

顾拜旦体育思想研究系列之二--顾拜旦体育思想的形成和发展

顾拜旦体育思想是继承前人的哲学思想和社会实践而形成的对体育、文化与教育相结合的奥林匹克运动的总结。它的来源有 :希腊哲学与古代奥运 ;文艺复兴与人文主义 ;人类和平与理想主义。顾拜旦体育思想也是适应世界潮流而不断发展的 ,有的是在他去世后 ,继承者在业余主义、妇女参加和政治干预等问题上有所发展。     

更好地认识顾拜旦(Ⅱ)

本期刊载法国顾拜旦委员会副主任伊夫·布隆勒(yves Bonlongne)的两篇短文:《顾拜旦与体育教育》和《顾拜旦与“大众体育”》。教育是奥林匹克运动的核心。顾拜旦从青年时代起,就立志“把自己的名字和伟大的教育改革联系在一起”。他曾说过:“古希腊人组织竞赛活动,不仅为了锻炼体格和显示一种廉价的壮观场面,而是为了教育人。”奥林匹克运动和奥运会是为民族和广泛的和平国际主义服务,并促进社会和平、完善的道德和良好的教育。”所以通过体育竞赛来教育青年是他复兴奥运会最根本的宗旨。“一切体育为大众”这一口号首先出自奥林匹克运动创始人之口也鲜为人知。如果我们认真研究《奥林匹克宪章》就不难发现,在基本原则第7条明文规定:“奥林匹克运动的活动是经常的、普遍的。活动的高潮是全世界运动员相聚在一起的盛大节日——奥林匹克运动会”。(根据法文版,与国内翻译出版的译文略有出入。)所以大众体育即我国所推行的群众体育或社会体育是奥林匹克运动的基础。     

What was Pierre de Coubertin concerned about in 1889? A View from an Argentine Contemporary Source

For more than a century Baron Pierre de Coubertin was believed to be a self-inspired Olympic forebear. That idea has recently been challenged, most notably by historian David Young. According to Young, de Coubertin took the idea of international Olympic Games in modern times from W. P. Brookes. Young bases his case on new evidence found in the Brookes’s archives. In this article I present another piece of evidence helping to corroborate Brookes’s influence on de Coubertin’s work. Such evidence comes from the personal report of Alejo Peyret, a member of the Argentine delegation to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition in which de Coubertin hosted the International Congress for the Propagation of Physical Exercise. In his report, Peyret provided a detailed account of all of the activities of the congress and commented on the state of physical education in France. By analyzing Peyret’s report, this article concludes that in mid-1889 de Coubertin was not concerned with reviving the Olympic Games. His focus was on improving France’s poor physical training system. This article also discusses the impact that the Argentine participation in the congress had on its incipient physical education and sporting movements.     

更好地认识顾拜旦(Ⅲ)

《顾拜旦与国际奥林匹克委员会》和《顾拜旦与业余主义》是本期介绍的两篇译文,它们分别由法国顾拜旦委员会副主任纳瓦赛勒(Gelffroy de Navacele)和秘书长罗丹富赛尔(Jean Rodenfuser)所著。文章介绍了顾拜旦发起成立国际奥委会的经过和他在建会时所确定的原则,这些原则至今仍为《奥林匹克宪章》所遵循。关于“业余主义”,从1894年第1部《宪章》就坚持职业运动员不得参加奥运会,但自1972年以来,这一规定开始松动,以致后来在《宪章》中取消了这一规定。究竟顾拜旦对“业余主义”是什么态度,作者作了论述。     

顾拜旦体育思想研究系列之三--顾拜旦与奥林匹克理想

奥林匹克理想是顾拜旦首先提出的一个概念，它是以奥林匹克主义为奋斗目标的一种对未来的设想和信念，并经过实践而形成的一种思想体系。本文作者从以下5个方面来论述：1.奥林匹克理想是体育文化概念；2．奥林匹克主义是奥林匹克理想的核心；3．奥林匹克运动是奥林匹克理想的实践；4．奥林匹克精神是奥林匹克理想的体现；5．《体育颂》是奥林匹克理想的升华。     

造福人类的伟大事业——读顾拜旦《奥林匹克宣言》

<奥林匹克宣言>原本是顾拜旦于1892年11月在巴黎索邦大学的一次演讲,但讲稿遗失很久,在1994年才被发现,后世称为<奥林匹克宣言>.这是一篇非常重要的奥林匹克历史文献.顾拜旦分析了当时的世界,特别是欧洲体育发展的状况和趋势,首先提出恢复奥林匹克运动会的创议.研究从<宣言>产生背景、内容、意义3个方面进行了解读.     

"视觉时代"奥运会开幕式教育意义的消退

在以视觉传媒为主的时代,奥运会开幕式因为媒体暴力和霸权作用而发生了许多质的变化,其中最让人担忧的就是其教育意义的淡化,甚至消退。而开幕式的教育意义是顾拜旦等现代奥林匹克运动先驱设置开幕式等仪式的最根本目的。比较了视觉时代前后开幕式的变化,探讨媒体导致了哪些变化以及变化的机制。在此基础得出视觉时代的开幕式正逐渐丧失了其基本的奥林匹克教育意义等结论。     

William Penny Brookes – the Founding Father of the Modern Pentathlon?

For a long time William Penny Brookes' influence on the re-establishment of the Olympic Games has been neglected thanks to a focus on Pierre de Coubertin's creative force. Meanwhile Brookes' general work for the Olympic movement has been officially acknowledged by the IOC. However, the British origins have not been proved yet for the modern pentathlon, which is – just like the Olympics – widely presented to be Coubertin's child. The two sport officials had been in touch since the 1890s and while the Olympic Games did not include the modern pentathlon before 1912, a pentathlon was organised as early as 1868 on the occasion of the Wenlock Games. This combined event did not have the same shape as the later modern pentathlon, but the ideological similarities are as obvious as Brookes' general impact on Coubertin. By analysing historical documents located in the IOC Archives in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Archives of the Wenlock Olympian Society in Much Wenlock, UK, and the National Archives of Sweden in Stockholm, this study aims to trace to what extent Brookes and the Much Wenlock Games impacted upon the birth of the modern pentathlon. Thus, the study reinterprets the genesis of a 100-year-old Olympic sport that has, until today, been exclusively dedicated to Coubertin.     

Pour Bien Faire du Sport (1912): An Important Precursor to Recent Books that Support and Acclaim the Achievements of Women in Sports

A short time before the 2012 London Olympics, the President of the International Olympic Committee declared: ‘Women have the right to practice sport … [W]e must make sure that barriers are broken down.’ Although such words would have greatly troubled Pierre de Coubertin, they would be lauded by his contemporary la Duchesse d’Uzès, who had written in the preface to Pour Bien Fair du Sport (1912): ‘Oh my sisters … have hands that are capable of grasping a rifle or leading a horse … Courage! And above all perseverance.’ Pour Bien Faire du Sport was in many ways a precursor to recent popular books such as Coming on Strong (1994) and Heroines of Sport (2000); however, it has been grossly overlooked. This paper sheds much-needed light upon the book and its messages – and also upon la Duchesse d’Uzès and Pierre Lafitte, whose interests had made its publication possible.