Art and Olympics

With the founding of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 and the celebration of the first modern Olympic Games , men "property in their heads and their bodies" which confront on a sports field rather than on a battlefield. Another of Concertina’s wishes is to combine sport and the arts , for which purpose he wishes to introduce art into the Olympics.
in this Olympics country giving priority to the art and Olympics 2012 tickets will be like no cost.


In May 1906 , Concertina organized in Paris a meeting between IOC members and representatives of arts organizations on the occasion of which is making the decision to hold art competitions at the Olympics. Divided into five parts (architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture), the work to build the sport entirely.



It is first to organize these art competitions for the 1908 Olympics in Rome . However, the Italian organizers are facing financial problems and are forced to abandon the Olympics. The IOC will then designate 1907 London to host the 1908 Olympics. Lack of time leads to the abandonment of the test.



Pierre de Coubertin did not give up and insisted to include arts events in the program of Olympic Games 1912 in Stockholm . Although the Swedes were initially reluctant to the idea, they end up adopting these competitions. The number of participants is very low with only 35 artists involved, however, gold medals are awarded in five categories.



During the Summer Olympics of 1920 in Belgium ravaged by World War I , the art competition are again in the program but do not take a great importance, unlike the 1924 Olympics in Paris where competition is at the initially taken seriously with 193 candidates. Among these artists are three artists Soviet , although the Soviet Union did not take part in the Games seen as a "bourgeois festival" .



The importance of these competitions is growing at the Summer Olympics of 1928 , where more than 1100 works of art are on display at the Stedelijk Museum , not to mention the work in literature, music to architecture. Artists are allowed to sell their work at the end of the exhibition, which created a controversy because of amateurism advocated by the IOC. In addition to Amsterdam , the number of events has also increased, four of the five categories of art have changed their program for these games.



For economic reasons as well as the location of Los Angeles , participation in sports competitions at the Olympic Games in 1932 was lower than in 1928 . However, art competitions do not suffer from this problem, the participation is almost identical to that of the previous edition. The exhibition attracted 384,000 visitors to the Museum of Science, History and Art in Los Angeles. Art competitions are also present at the Berlin Games in 1936 and those in London in 1948 , with reasonable success, although the number of participants has declined considerably over the last Games.



In 1949 , a report presented at an IOC meeting in Rome said that almost all participants are professional art competitions and therefore the competition should be removed and replaced with an exhibition without price or medals. The report triggered a major debate within the International Olympic Committee. In 1951 , the IOC decided to reinstate the art competitions at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 . However, the organizers Finnish highlight the lack of time and no exhibition or art contest will be present at these Games.



This problem continues to be debated within the IOC and in the 49 th Session of the IOC is taking to Athens , the members voted to replace competition with an exhibition for future Olympics. Various attempts at rehabilitation of these competitions were held, but without much success ..



Since then, the Olympics have ties to the art through exhibitions. The Olympic Charter states that the organizers should include a program of cultural events to promote human relations, mutual understanding and friendship among the participants at the Olympic Games.