Citius, Altius, Fortius - Sports and Arts at the Kiev National Museum of Russian Art

The idea of ​​the exhibition is to show the relevance of the topic of sports in the Soviet art. The exhibition will feature approximately 30 paintings, drawings, sculptures, decorative arts from the 1930s to the 1970s from the collection of the Kiev National Museum of Russian Art. The exhibition will include the works of Alexander Deineka, Alexei Pakhomov, Alexander Shevchenko Leonid Soyfertis, Ivan Shadr and many more.

During the Soviet era, sports became one of the major topics in Russian art. The young Soviet Union united the image of a strong, courageous, trained person with the image of a powerful, compelling the state. Sports as an integral part of a person’s training to face any trial and difficultie, has become the leitmotif of the majority of works during the 1920s and 1930s. This theme is vividly expressed in art and posters of the time.

The course of the development of the classical heritage is particularly apparent in sculptures, where the image of modern athletes were very similar to the images of ancient athletes as represented by the works of sculptor Alexander Deineka: “Boxer” and “Boy, jumps into the water.”

The postwar period is represented by the graphic works of L. Soyfertisa, V. Golovanova, the paintings of O. Shegal and E. Kalninsha. In the 1950s and the 1960s, sport was seen as a kind of symbol of the postwar reconstruction of the state. During these years, the role of competitive sports has grown along with the Soviet Union’s presence in the international sports scene. Besides sport was an important ideological weapon in the “cold war”.

The exhibition will be held under a multi-museum project, “Realism of the twentieth century,” and dedicated to the European Football Championship EURO 2012.