Sport and the European Avant-Garde (1900-1945)

This collection of essays assesses the significance of sport for the European avant-garde in the first half of the 20th century from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. It shows the extent to which avant-garde art and culture was shaped by the dynamic encounter with modern sports. Contents Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction: Sport and the European Avant-Garde (1900–1945) 1 Sport and the Avant-Garde: Histories and Cultural Mediation 2 Sport and Avant-Garde Cultures: Critical Approaches 3 Scope and Aims of This Book Acknowledgements Bibliography 1. Vitalist Cubisms: The Biocultures of Virility, Militarism and La Vie Sportive Abstract 1 ‘Nouvelle Anatomie Artistique’: Picabia, Picasso, Physical Education and La Culture Physique 2 Ending ‘Universal Neuroses’; Radiating Energy: Cycling, Rugby and Metzinger’s Au Vélodrome 3 ‘Strong Sensations’ and ‘Vitalist Significations’: Delaunay’s L’Equipe de Cardiff and Gleizes’ Les Joueurs de football 4 ‘The Grand Match’: Picasso, Lhote, Sport and the First World War Bibliography 2. The Aesthetics and Ideology of Sport in Italian Futurism Abstract 1 Sport and Gymnastics in Futurist Manifestos 2 Sports and War 3 Futurist Sports Theatre and Dance 4 Conclusions Bibliography 3. Outside the Vortex? Vorticism and the English Avant-Garde’s Indifference to Sport Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Italian Influence 3 Blasting and Blessing 4 ‘It’s Not Cricket’ 5 Boxing and the ‘Rhythm of Life’ 6 Sport, a ‘Purely Destructive Thing’? 7 Conclusion Bibliography 4. ‘Vive le sport!’ German Expressionism and Dada Abstract 1 The Expressionist Sporting Body 2 Boxing 3 The Dada Sporting Body Bibliography 5. Sports and the Bauhaus: Bringing School to Life Abstract 1 Sports in the Weimar Bauhaus Curriculum 2 Sports in the Dessau Bauhaus Curriculum 3 The Sports Motif in Bauhaus Art: Looking from the School to the Republic 4 Sports at the Bauhaus: An Evolving Role Bibliography 6. A New Pitch: Art, Sport and the Impact of the Avant-Garde in the Soviet Union in the 1920s Abstract 1 Art, Sport and the Bolshevik Revolution 2 New Art, New Media, New Practices 3 The Soviet Avant-Garde and the Return of Easel Painting 4 Aleksandr Deineka, Football, 1924 5 Debates concerning the Role of Sport, and Football in Particular, for the New Soviet Society 6 Interventions in Sport and Art 7 Yurii Pimenov, Football, 1926 8 Conclusion Bibliography 7. Workers’ Sport, Mountaineering and the Avant-Garde Left in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland Abstract 1 Devĕtsil Propaganda for the 2nd Spartakiad in Prague 2 The Munka Circle and the Workers’ Physical Training Association in Budapest 3 Mieczysław Szczuka, the Vagabond Inn and the Communist Dźwignia 4 The Importance of Linking Sport and the Avant-Garde in ReD, Munka and Dźwignia Bibliography 8. After Purism: The Young Man’s Home at the 1935 Brussels Exhibition Abstract Bibliography Index "What has been the significance of sport for the European avant-garde in the first half of the 20th century? From an international and interdisciplinary perspective we show the extent to which avant-garde art and culture was shaped by the dynamic encounter with modern sports. Our focus lies on avant-garde groups, movements and institutions across Europe (Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Purism, Expressionism, Dada, the Bauhaus, Constructivism in Central and Eastern Europe), thereby unfolding the diversity of avant-garde responses to modern sports. The book in front of you includes fascinating readings in the fields of aesthetics, visual cultures, cultural history and politics and highlights why specific kinds of sport such as cycling, boxing and football became important for avant-garde movements and artists"-- Provided by publisher What has been the significance of sport for the European avant-garde in the first half of the 20th century? From an international and interdisciplinary perspective we show the extent to which avant-garde art and culture was shaped by the dynamic encounter with modern sports. Our focus lies on avant-garde artists, groups, movements and institutions across Europe (including Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Purism, Expressionism, Dada, the Bauhaus, Constructivism in Central and Eastern Europe), thereby unfolding the diversity of avant-garde responses to modern sports. The book in front of you includes fascinating readings in the fields of aesthetics, visual cultures, cultural history and politics and highlights why specific kinds of sport such as cycling, boxing and football became important for avant-garde movements and artists.