Art: Sport in Art

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Since the first cave man painted the animals he hunted on the walls of his cave, artists have been fascinated by the possibilities of sport in art. To prove that artists are still far from ignoring fun and games, the American Federation of Arts and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED have rounded up an exhibition of 102 paintings that show the artist as ardent admirer of the sportsman. The exhibit, previewed last week in Manhattan before its opening in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, will travel crosscountry to six other major museums before winding up in Australia in time for next year's Olympics.

Tapping U.S. collections only, the exhibition turns up some unexpected contributions along with old favorites. Goya was a bullring aficionado. Winslow Homer, while covering the Civil War, took time out to paint Zouaves pitching quoits in camp. Philadelphia's Thomas Eakins painted scullers and wrestlers; George Bellows not only haunted the fight ring painting boxing classics (Dempsey and Firpo), but also painted tennis at Newport and polo at Lakewood. In Ground Swell, Edward Hopper caught every yachtsman's thrill at passing the last buoy and heading seaward in a light breeze.

The show brings sports paintings up to date with Fletcher Martin's picture of Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano bloody-nosed after the second Ezzard Charles fight. And with Elaine de Koonings' wild scramble titled Basketball Players, the show makes another surprising point: even some of the abstract expressionists are sport fans.