Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Gold Medal in Drawings and Water-Colors, 1932 Olympics: Lee Blair - Rodeo














Yes, that is correct. There were Art Competitions in seven Olympiads from 1912-1948. Medals were awarded for Architecture, Sculpture, Painting and Graphic Art, Literature, and Music. The competitions were eventually dropped because of the difficulty of determining the amateur status of the artists.

You can read all about it at The Olympic Games Museum website. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for more details.)

See When aesthetes competed with athletes at the Olympics for the story of Lee Blair's 1932 gold medal in watercolors.

via Cartoon Brew

2 comments:

The Nag said...

Thanks. Nice to know I can stop by your site and learn something new every day.

John M. said...

Well, thank you.

This story blew me away. I had not an inkling.