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Catalog Data

Artist:
Hockney, David  Search this
Physical Description:
paper (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 36 in x 24 in; 91.44 cm x 60.96 cm
Object Name:
poster, summer olympics
poster, olympics
poster
Date made:
1984
Description (Brief):
David Hockney’s poster is part of a fifteen poster set commissioned by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) for the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in 1984. The signed limited edition (750) prints were created by both internationally known American artists and young emerging local artists selected by the Committee to commemorate the Games, and Los Angeles’ and the United States’ unique contribution to the contemporary art scene.
The modern Olympic movement, founded by Baron de Coubertin, emphasized the development of a ‘total person’ and included art and a cultural Olympiad as a creative complement to athletic demonstrations. Posters have acted as a primary expression of the Games since the modern revival in 1896; each represented by an official poster. They have also served as announcements, souvenirs, fine art prints, and visual reminders throughout the history of the Olympics, ancient and modern.
David Hockney (1937- ) was born in England and moved to California after completing studies at the Regional College of Art in Bradford and the Royal College in London. After visiting New York a number of times while in college, Hockney moved to the Los Angeles area and traveled and taught in a number of different US locations before settling in California where he still maintains a studio.
Hockney’s well known as an abstract or pop artist although his work includes elements of naturalism as well. His poster is representative of his experimentation with photography in the 1980s when he began incorporating polaroids in his work. Initially engaging with them as studies for his paintings he later used polaroids as his art, arranging multiple images into larger composite works as he does in his poster. Hockney’s poster is also reminiscent of his earlier California-inspired swimming pool acrylics.
The 1984 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were held in Los Angeles, California with 140 countries, 5,263 men and 1,566 women athletes participating. These Games were boycotted by fourteen countries, including the Soviet Union because of America’s boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American Carl Lewis won four gold medals in track and field while Joan Benoit won gold for the U.S. in the first women’s marathon. Mary Lou Retton dominated women’s gymnastics becoming the first American to win the gymnastics all-around competition and the American men won the gold in the gymnastics team competition. With the addition of women’s only events of rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming and the addition of women’s events in track and field, shooting and cycling, women athletes were just beginning to see results from Title IX legislation of twelve years prior. The United States won the medal count with 174.
Location:
Currently not on view
Web subject:
Sports  Search this
Level of sport:
Olympics  Search this
Related event:
Olympic Summer Games: Los Angeles, 1984  Search this
Credit Line:
Gift of Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (through Carol Daniels)
ID Number:
1985.0297.18.06
Accession number:
1985.0297
Catalog number:
1985.0297.18.06
See more items in:
Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b2-c9b3-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_1764572