From the 5th Olympiad in Stockholm in 1912 to the 14th in London in 1948, fine arts were an integral part of the Olympics with medals and diplomas being awarded. Try a “figure in motion” project, researching and exploring differing styles and media. Introduce pupils to the challenge of imaginatively depicting athletic movement of the figure. Eadweard Muybridge analysed stages of running in an exhaustive study of the human figure in early photographs. To replicate, slow down a video film of athletic pursuits, using a computer program to produce sequential frames. Compare this with the Futurists such as Giacomo Balla’s pictures of a dog with moving legs, or Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Nude descending a staircase’ (1912) (www.beatmuseum.orgduchamp). Make a rapid series of drawings of a figure in different positions to imply motion, all produced on one canvas, as in the Duchamp. Using photos taken on the school sports day, explore abstraction by examining Ferdnand Leger and Richard Lindner - ‘The Cyclist’
(www.artprintcollection.com). Contrast LeRoy Neiman, official artist at five Olympiads, whose impressionistic style used serigraph processes in differing Olympic events (compare his Munich suite of 1972 with ‘Olympic pole vaulting’ 1979).