His Majesty, Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, will arrive inBarcelona on July 25th to make the following pronouncement adaptedfrom ancient Greek: "I declare open the Olympic Games of Barcelona,celebrating the 25th Olympiad of the modern era."
For the following 15 days, it is estimated, more than half theworld's population--2.5 billion people in 120 countries--will bewatching the Games. Television, with its electronic magic--slowmotion, replays, multiple camera angles, the ability to hop instantlyfrom one site to another miles across town--will allow its audienceto see better, faster, more.
Many sports have been added since the original pentathlon of theancient Greeks, even since the first Olympiad of the modern era.Unfortunately, an important feature of the Games up until 1948 willbe missing again: the fine arts.
Beginning with the fifth Olympiad, in Stockholm in 1912, and endingwith the 14th, in London in 1948, fine arts were an integral part ofthe competition. Represented were: architecture, sculpture, painting,literature and music.
The American artists have always done well in these competitions. Forinstance, Walter Winans captured first place in sculpture with hiswork An American Trotter in Stockholm in 1912. RuthMiller placed second for her painting Struggle and JohnRussel Pope placed second in the architecture competition for hisDesign for Payne Whitney Gymnasium, both in the 1932Olympics in Los Angeles. And in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, CharlesDowning Lay took second in town planning for his design forMarine Park, Brooklyn.
First place in that category and second place for architecturaldesign went to Werner and Walter March for their design of theSports Stadium. In music, Werner Egk took first with hisorchestral composition,. In sculpture, second place went to therecently deceased Arno Breker for his work Dekathlete.This turned out to be the turning point in the life of this mostsignificant sculptor of our time.
Ever since that time, Arno Breker maintained a close anduninterrupted relationship with the young generation, especiallyathletes. He has immortalized Olympic athletes such as GustavStührk, Eberhard Gienger, Kurt Bendlin, Peter Nocke, WalterKusch, Jürgen Hingsen and Ulrike Meyfarth.
Physical beauty requires both discipline and achievement. This beautyis especially reflected in the physique of the athletes whom themaster retained in his various drawings, graphics and sculptures.From the beauty of the perfect human body the artist can drawinspiration for his attempt to capture the likeness of the human formand the essence of the spirit and soul of his model.
To create a permanent ideal monument for mankind as a basis for ahealthy future is an ideal especially inspiring for our youthfulgeneration.
An Olympic champion wrote to me these lines: "...to the beautiful andpositive things in our society doubtlessly belong sport and art.Sport has always radiated a force which binds a people together. Theactive sportsmen of our time should make us more conscious of thisfact."
I wholeheartedly agree. And we know there is no better way to fostercooperation between sportsmen and artists than that which existed upto the 14th Olympiad in London in 1948: namely, having competitionsin fine arts again incorporated into Olympic Games. The categoriesthat should again be represented are:
ARCHITECTURE -- Town Planning, ArchitecturalDesign
PAINTING -- Paintings and Water Colors, Lithographsand Etchings
MUSIC -- Songs for Soloists to Choir, OrchestralCompositions
SCULPTURE -- Statues, Reliefs
LITERATURE -- Epic Works, Lyric Works
It would be of great significance, both for sportsmen and artists, ifall future Olympiads reincorporated these 10 categories of finearts.
Several years ago, an international committee was formed under thename ART FOR OLYMPIA (10545 Main Street, Clarence, New York 14031),to promote this idea. A number of prominent artists, as well asOlympic champions enthusiastically endorsed this initiative.Unfortunately, the bureaucrats running the Games today are moreconcerned with bringing us the Olympic Games every two (!!?) years,rather than being loyal to the true tradition and spirit of theOlympiad.