June 12 – August 29, 2021
Inspired by some of the sports featured in the Summer Olympics from the Ancient and Modern Games, The Art of Sports, on view June 12 through August 29, 2021, evokes the spirit of competition. Continuing a tradition that bridges the gap between sports and art, this exhibition features seven contemporary artists, including Thornton Dial, LeRoy Neiman, Clayton Pond, Veronica Stewart, and others, who use printmaking and photography to interpret and express the human body in motion. Summer Olympic sports highlighted in this exhibition include athletics (foot race), boxing, swimming, cycling (BMX), tennis, and skateboarding, which debuts in Tokyo this year.
Sports have been depicted in many art forms as an important part of cultural life since the earliest civilizations, including prehistoric cave paintings from 15,300 BCE. For centuries, major sporting events have been recorded in murals, carvings, and painted on urns, which now provide clues to how games were played and who the victors were.
Artistic competitions were an important part of the Ancient Games as sculptors and painters displayed their work highlighting human movement and anatomy. Poets were commissioned to write victory songs that were passed on for generations. The Modern Games expanded the Olympic Art Competitions to include literature, architecture and music competitions and, by the early twentieth century, developed the Cultural Olympiad—a series of cultural events that take place throughout the host country four years leading up to the Olympic Games. The Tokyo Cultural Olympiad began in 2016 to ensure a strong cultural foundation for the Games in 2020 (postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic). In addition to organizing cultural programs nationwide, Tokyo’s Cultural Olympiad emphasizes reaching out to today’s Japanese youth to help reconnect them with traditional Japanese culture. There is also an emphasis on disability arts to bridge the gap between the Olympic and Paralympic Games.