“You were made to soar, to crash to earth, then to rise and soar again.”Alfred Wainwright
Throughout history, athletes have been depicted in various
forms, but all rooted in some form to the traditional symbol of athletes as
ideal strength and power. How have artists, using various forms and styles of
art, depicted different cultural definitions of athletes by alluding to or
manipulating the traditional symbolic context?
In Ancient Greece, an artist depicting young and strong
athletes was the norm, their bodies exaggerated to ideal perfection. The carved
marble and bronze figures were the epitome of bodies in motion. The gods were
Olympians – sports heroes – and artists elevated man in their sculptures and
pottery to attain that perfection. In our own modern culture, reverence for
athletes remains. The roots of that reverence began in Ancient Greece thousands
of years ago.
Athletes have become a symbol of raw ideals of humanity:
strength, perseverance, endurance, and power. This traditional symbol is deeply
rooted in the psyche of human culture, reflected in such things like the
Olympics. The world pulls together to compete and push the body to the limit.
Countrymen are inspired by their beloved athletes, taking their victory as
their own. This symbol has been reflected in art in a more modern context as
well, combining the traditional ideals of mankind with the culture of today.
The artist tells a new story, adds a new piece to the tradition: Athletes
juxtaposed with progress or chaos. As Wainwright said, humans rise and fall,
but the athlete will always be a symbol of humanity’s hope of the upward climb,
of pushing ourselves past the point of exhaustion and being born into the
tradition of the gods.
These
pieces are ordered chronologically to see the progression through time as
athletes are manipulated to serve the artist’s purposes.
Unknown, Bronze diskos thrower, ca. 480-460 B.C.
Bronze, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 07.286.87
This statue
proclaims achievement and success. This athlete has a body disciplined to
perfection. His nose and jaw are strong lines, with muscle tone throughout his
body. He has one foot forward, one arm raised to throw the diskos, but as with
the classical period, there is not much motion to this bronze sculpture. He is
caught in the moment before the action, before his power is unleashed. Though
strength is evident in his body and he is about to release a diskos with force
and momentum, his body is calm, serene. He is the frozen etching of ideal body.
Unknown, Terracotta statuette of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his
head), ca. 1st century B.C.
Terracotta, copy of a Greek bronze statue
by Polykleitos, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 32.11.2
This is a copy of a famous classical Greek
artist, Polykleitos. This piece is made from terracotta, a relatively
inexpensive element that was used to make miniature copies for distribution.
This would have been bought for personal use, displayed in the home or
workplace. Though it is a copy of a classical statue, it reflects the
Hellenistic period in which it was copied. The subject is in motion: his arms
are raised to tie the fillet, his hips are swiveled, and his legs reflect a
shift in weight. His body still reflects Greek idealism with muscles just
beneath the surface of the skin, strong facial features, and so forth. This
piece also reflects the strength and power of the ideal athlete body, but in
motion, and it also brings this symbol into the daily life of the people.
Unknown, Bronze Statuette of a runner, ca. 2nd-1st
century B.C.
Bronze, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972.118.93
This piece is to bring a variant form of style to
contrast with the piece above. It is within the same period – Hellenistic – but
takes on a different form. This is an athlete defined in a different way. The
Hellenistic period, though still retaining idealistic forms, began to depict
every day folk, not just gods and noblemen. Here is an example of a runner with
no particular special identity. His body is stylized, elongated and thin. He is
more of an individual because his nose is not the generic strong and straight
nose, but oversized and unique. He does reflect the motion of this period,
though, for one leg is bent to spring, and the other is raised mid step. His
arms are tightly bent to his side, seemingly bearing the weight of some sticks
or logs. His mouth is in a hard line – this is an athlete that puts in effort.
His strength does not come easy, but he perseveres and bears his burden by his
own ability. This is an athlete that we can compare ourselves to and identify
with, while still aspiring to embody his spirit.
Max Weber, Athletic Contest, 1915
Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.112
This painting depicts athletes competing in various track
and field events. Weber uses the styles of Cubism and Futurism to convey the
motion and speed of these athletes. This painting embodies the flurry of motion
within competition, but you can just make out the individuals within the piece
with jersey numbers depicted across the canvas. Unlike the previous pieces,
this painting has color. Red, green, and yellow tones bring this scene to life
while dark swirls and lines add to the chaos and motion, breaking up the
colors. There is no specific focal point, so the viewer’s eyes are in motion
with the athletes, following them along their tracks, jumping over the hurdles
with them. His brush strokes add a texture and individuality to each figure
within the piece as well. Weber uses techniques and styles of his day to
display the traditional theme of athlete in an entirely new way.
El Lissitzky, Runner in the City, ca. 1926
Gelatin silver print, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.1100.47
This is not simply a photograph, but a photomontage of
different exposed pieces, cutting this print into thin vertical strips. He
exposes a runner jumping over a hurdle on a track over the city lights of Times
Square, allowing the lights of the city to create a steady glow and pulse to
shine through the slightly transparent runner. The traditional athlete as a
hero is reinvented into an urban context of new industry and progress. Man and
metal combine to symbolize a hope in the progress of human achievement, both
industrial and physical, as they both hurdle forward into the optimistic
future. The scene does hold a sense of chaos, yet again, for the moment is
segmented and constructed apart from each other. This is an underlying theme to
the total piece, but reflective of the other artists of his time. El Lissitzky
is relying upon the traditional athletic symbol that is within the cultural
vocabulary of his viewer, and manipulating it to preach on the progress of the
20s. These two ideals – industry and athleticism – are married together,
literally glowing and running together, in a suspenseful and optimistic scene
of achievement.
Piet Zwart, Topsport, ca. 1930s
Gelatin silver print, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.1100.253
Zwart created this image by cutting out these individual
figures and mounting them on a series of parallel glass planes, and then
photographing it to produce this print. As El Lissitsky was a part of
Association of New Architects (ASNOVA) that was designing a sports club, Zwart
was a part of the Association of New Advertising Designers. The members used
experimental photographic methods during the 1930s, such as a photomontage such
as this. There is much movement in this with varying athletes literally flying,
floating, and running, their shadows tangled as much as they are. There is a
sailboat racer, a jockey vying for the title in the horse raise, the tennis
player with racquet raced, or the runner towards the front depicted the moment
before passing the baton. The background grows from dark to light, with
formally pleasing lines from the glass planes, creating a very ordered
background to a chaotic show of sports. These athletes are rising from the
blackness of the background, showing the supremacy of strength, but the chaos
of competition.
No comments:
Post a Comment