PARIS OLYMPICS 1924 AT THE FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM
The Runners About 1924 Robert Delaney
Paris 1924 opens its doors today. On your marks , get set go. Down to the Fitzwilliam Museum where it all began. The creator of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin made the museum the highlight of his visit in 1886 - he struck an ally in its Curator Charles Walston, a man devoted to sport as well as Art. They stayed in touch and forged the ideas of sport art , fashion and culture as one glorious classical competition, the Olympics.. This magnificent exhibition helps us see all the spheres of human expression as one endeavour - a view with its origins in the Games of Ancient Greece. No coincidence the exhibition is guided by Caroline Vout the Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge University and an expert in the study of the body. In 1924 there were prizes for painting and sculpture, as well as swimming and running, horsemanship and dance. It follows that Caroline’s amazing exhibition , inspired by another academic Christopher Young, is one of the most impressive the Ftizwilliam has ever mounted.
Chariots of Fire was a close run loser for the background music for this show. Cambridge athletes did so well in 1924. Liddell and Abrahams were just two out of an impressive field and had it been a country, Cambridge would have come ninth in the league table of awards and medals. The exhibition features them all and includes the aristocratic Lord Burgley lounging in his Blue Blazer in a gorgeous portrait where he looks straight-out of The Great Gatsby.
Film in the first frames of the exhibition, shows how near the 1924 Olympics are . In fact the snatches of clearly shot running races I preferred to the high tech 2024 long lens vista of the entire field. We see athletes up close as they strain the body in a close up of exertion. Coubertin now firmly in charge announced ‘ Modern very modern will be these restored Olympic Games’ All too aware of the Classical world as he was, Coubertin dipped into their heritage when he wanted. And when he wanted modern he got it. Below a touch of the grace and nature of the Greek forebears
Raoul Bénard (1881-1961), designer_ Monnaie de Paris (founded 864), manufacturer_ Participation medal, Paris 1924 Olympic Games, 1924_ Bronze, 5.5 cm_ The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, bought from the Baldwin sale, 21 November 2016 © The.jpg
1924 Paris Olympics managed to infuse some celebrity into the show. An eye-catching Press feature shows Johnny Weissmuller (later of course Tarzan) as the ideal man. Men, check out your own dimensions against the vital statistics of this keen competitor. He surely embodies the idea of physical perfection so clear in Greek sculpture. But thankfully there is no Aryan style fascism at these games’ celebrations. Two of of the leading athletes are black, one from the United States whose moving letter to his mother from his first time away from home trip - aboard an ocean liner - underlines his apprehension. The other was football star from Uruguay later to become a world phenomenon in the sport.
Johnny Weissmuller (1904–1984) posing for artist, John Hubbard Rich (1876–1954) About 1931 Photograph by Pach Brothers Gelatin silver print.jpg
Below another art meets sport image.Remarkable how involved the artists of the day were in the Paris 1924. Picasso designed a set for an opera performed - and the costumes were by Coco Chanel. Artists of the time saw the Games as a chance to compete too. Helen Wills Moody idealized as a tennis player, switched over to art , years before as Daphne Bolz says in her essay for the exhibition book ‘ Paris 1924 is important, on the cusp of a period ‘ 1920s and 1930s ‘ when regimes, politicised sport for their own grim ideology.
E. Blanche, printed by Henri Francois, High-jump, One of a set of 8 postcards, 1924 © Collections Musée National du Sport, France
As Caroline Vout ,likes to emphasise. Paris 1924 was a turning point for women. Before then women had worn long dresses,corsets,and large hats. To see them in flimsy silk knee length tennis dresses must have been a shock for many. Add to that the close fitting swimwear where the outline of the body was so well defined, the transformation of women’s image was complete. Below is the glamour suddenly associated with women. Little surprise this spurred on the women’s movement, changed attitudes to women in society and liberated so many activities once firmly closed to women . What an amazing breakthrough it was.
Bather in a Black Swimsuit, 1920–23 Jacqueline Marval (1866–1932) Oil paint on canvas.
Below Helen Wills modernist sketch for the Paris 1924 - after a triumph on the court. I loved the stories of the resilient Gertrude Ederle the first woman to swim the Channel in 1926, greased up for action.
And then there was Blackpool’s own Lucy Morton. Her taxi had a crash on the way to her key swimming It naked out several of her teeth but she went on to win nevertheless. She was a titan of the Games in the pool and retired to Blackpool where she performed in the pool under the Blackpool Tower ( modelled on the Eiffel Tower) after her Olympic triumphs.
Helen Wills I 1927 Alexander Calder (1898–1976) Wire and wood
