Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Art competitions were held as part of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Great Britain. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes.^[1] These were the first Olympic Games following the devastation of World War II, and tensions between nations remained high, with much debate about the inclusion of Germany, Italy, and Japan.^[2]

1948 London Olympic medals being minted at the works of John Pinches in Clapham

The art exhibition was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 15 July to 14 August, and displayed works of art from 27 countries. The literature competition attracted 44 entries, and the music competition had 36 entries.^[3]

The art competitions included multiple subcategories for each of the five artistic categories.^[4] The judges declined to award any medals for dramatic works in literature, and no gold medals in another five subcategories. Alex Diggelmann of Switzerland won both a silver medal and a bronze medal for two different entries in the applied arts and crafts subcategory, a feat unlikely to be duplicated in any event in the current Olympic program.

These were the last Games in which art competitions were held, after being in the official program for all Games since 1912.^[5] At a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in 1949 it was decided to hold art exhibitions instead, as it was judged inappropriate to permit professionals to compete in the art competitions while only amateurs were permitted to compete in sporting events.^[6] Since 1952 a non-competitive art and cultural festival has been associated with each Games.

Architecture

Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Architectural design	Adolf Hoch (AUT) "Skisprungschanze auf dem Kobenzl"	Alfred Rinesch (AUT) "Watersports Centre in Carinthia"	Nils Olsson (SWE) "Baths and Sporting Hall for Gothenburg"
Town planning	Yrjö Lindegren (FIN) "The Centre of Athletics in Varkaus, Finland"	Werner Schindler and Edy Knupfer (SUI) "Swiss Federal Sports and Gymnastics Training Centre"	Ilmari Niemeläinen (FIN) "The Athletic Centre in Kemi, Finland"

Literature

Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Lyric works	Aale Tynni (FIN) "Laurel of Hellas"	Ernst van Heerden (RSA) "Six Poems"	Gilbert Prouteau (FRA) "Rythme du Stade"
Dramatic works	none awarded	none awarded	none awarded
Epic works	Giani Stuparich (ITA) "La Grotta"	Josef Petersen (DEN) "The Olympic Champion"	Éva Földes (HUN) "The Well of Youth"

Music

Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Vocal	none awarded	none awarded	Gabriele Bianchi (ITA) "Inno Olimpionico"
Instrumental and chamber	none awarded	John Weinzweig (CAN) "Divertimenti for Solo Flute and Strings"	Sergio Lauricella (ITA) "Toccata per Pianoforte"
Compositions for Orchestra	Zbigniew Turski (POL) "Olympic Symphony"	Kalervo Tuukkanen (FIN) "Karhunpyynti"	Erling Brene (DEN) "Vigeur"

Painting and graphic art

Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Oils and water colours	Alfred Thomson (GBR) "London Amateur Championships"	Giovanni Stradone (ITA) "Le Pistard"	Letitia Hamilton (IRL) "Meath Hunt Point-to-Point Races"
Engravings and etchings	Albert Decaris (FRA) "Swimming Pool"	John Copley (GBR) "Polo Players"	Walter Battiss (RSA) "Seaside Sport"
Applied arts and crafts	none awarded	Alex Diggelmann (SUI) "World Championship for Cycling Poster"	Alex Diggelmann (SUI) "World Championship for Ice Hockey Poster"

Sculpture

Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Statues	Gustaf Nordahl (SWE) "Homage to Ling"	Chintamoni Kar (GBR) "The Stag"	Hubert Yencesse (FRA) "Nageuse"
Reliefs	none awarded	none awarded	Rosamund Fletcher (GBR) "The End of the Covert"
Medals and plaques	none awarded	Oskar Thiede (AUT) "Eight Sports Plaques"	Edwin Grienauer (AUT) "Prize Rowing Trophy"

Medal table

At the time, medals were awarded to these artists, but art competitions are no longer regarded as official Olympic events by the International Olympic Committee. These events do not appear in the IOC medal database,^[7] and these totals are not included in the IOC's medal table for the 1948 Games.^[8]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Finland (FIN)	2	1	1	4
2	Austria (AUT)	1	2	1	4
	Great Britain (GBR)	1	2	1	4
4	Italy (ITA)	1	1	2	4
5	France (FRA)	1	0	2	3
6	Sweden (SWE)	1	0	1	2
7	Poland (POL)	1	0	0	1
8	Switzerland (SUI)	0	2	1	3
9	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	1	2
	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	1	2
11	Canada (CAN)	0	1	0	1
12	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1
	Ireland (IRL)	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		8	11	13	32

Events summary

Architecture

Designs for Town Planning

The following architects took part:^[9]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Yrjö Lindegren	Finland
2	Edy Knupfer, Werner Schindler	Switzerland
3	Ilmari Niemeläinen	Finland
AC	Jack Néel, Pierre Vago	France

Architectural designs

The following architects took part:^[10]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Adolf Hoch	Austria
2	Alfred Rinesch	Austria
3	Nils Olsson	Sweden
AC	Dagoberto Ortensi	Italy
AC	Dragan Boltar	Yugoslavia
AC	Franjo Neidhardt	Yugoslavia
AC	Vladimir Turina	Yugoslavia
AC	František Marek	Czechoslovakia
AC	Patrick Horsbrugh	Great Britain
AC	Örjan Lüning	Sweden
AC	Ferdinand Marani	Canada
AC	Robert Morris	Canada

Further entries

The following architects took part:^[11]

Rank Name Country AC Charles Terry Pledge  Great Britain AC Wilhelm Andreas Herdey  Austria AC Lorle Herdey-von Savageri  Austria AC Alexander Scott  Great Britain AC A. Tarık Eğrilmez  Turkey AC Renato Giovanelli  Italy AC Dagoberto Ortensi  Italy AC Thurston Williams  Great Britain AC Maxwell Ayrton  Great Britain AC Hans Janssen  Netherlands AC Walter van der Valk  Netherlands AC Eskil Lundahl  Sweden AC Sture Frölén  Sweden

Rank Name Country AC Jan Wils  Netherlands AC Hans Asplund  Sweden AC Berkeley Moir  Great Britain AC Patroklos Karantinos  Greece AC Karel Kuthan  Czechoslovakia AC Sjoerd Joustra  Netherlands AC Predrag Kovačević  Yugoslavia AC Harold Kaplan  Canada AC Abraham Sprachman  Canada AC Vlastibor Klimeš  Czechoslovakia AC Ferdinand Balcárek  Czechoslovakia AC Mario Ghedina  Italy AC Konstantinos Aslanidis  Greece

Rank Name Country AC Guy Ardilouze  France AC Jean Démaret  France AC Othello Zavaroni  France AC Carlo Di Maria  Italy AC Alfred Ferraz  France AC Lucien Seignol  France AC Georges Tourry  France AC Auguste Perret  France AC Guy Sabrou  France AC Siegfried Theiß  Austria AC Hans Jaksch  Austria AC Dermot O'Toole  Ireland

Literature

Dramatic works

The following writers took part:^[12]

Rank	Name	Country
AC	Clotilde Luisi	Uruguay
AC	José María Podestá	Uruguay
AC	Benoît Bickel	Switzerland

Epic works

The following writers took part:^[13]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Giani Stùparich	Italy
2	Josef Petersen	Denmark
3	Éva Földes	Hungary
AC	Hans Breidbach-Bernau	Austria
AC	Stanislaus Lynch	Ireland
AC	Giorgio Caproni	Italy
AC	Max Ehinger	Switzerland
AC	Miklós Jós	Hungary
AC	Philip Greene	Ireland
AC	Philip Rooney	Ireland
AC	Juuse Tamminen	Finland
AC	Joel Laikka	Finland

Lyric works

The following writers took part:^[14]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Aale Tynni	Finland
2	Ernst Van Heerden	South Africa
3	Gilbert Prouteau	France
AC	Heikki Asunta	Finland
AC	Eleuter Iwaszkiewicz	Poland
AC	Walter Roberts	Great Britain
AC	Giorgio Caproni	Italy
AC	Michele Caballo Galleano	Italy
AC	Benoît Bickel	Switzerland
AC	Ferdinand Schell	Switzerland
AC	René Borchanne	Switzerland
AC	Stanislaus Lynch	Ireland
AC	Flora Vere O'Brien	Ireland

Unknown event

The following writers took part:^[15]

Rank	Name	Country
AC	Geraldine Wright	Canada
AC	Doris Hedges	Canada
AC	Gérard Bessette	Canada
AC	François Hertel	Canada

Music

Compositions for orchestra

The following composers took part:^[16]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Zbigniew Turski	Poland
2	Kalervo Tuukkanen	Finland
3	Erling Brene	Denmark
AC	Grażyna Bacewicz	Poland
AC	Einar Englund	Finland
AC	Jan Kapr	Czechoslovakia
AC	Maurice Thiriet	France
AC	Stanisław Wiechowicz	Poland
AC	Yves Baudrier	France
AC	Werner Gallusser	Switzerland
AC	Jean Daetwyler	Switzerland
AC	Clermont Pépin	Canada
AC	Alexander Brott	Canada
AC	Oskar Morawetz	Canada
AC	Aarre Merikanto	Finland

Instrumental and chamber

The following composers took part:^[17]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Not awarded
2	John Weinzweig	Canada
3	Sergio Lauricella	Italy
AC	Jean Coulthard Adams	Canada
AC	Mario Panunzi	Italy
AC	Harry Somers	Canada
AC	James C. Flynn	Ireland

Vocals

The following composers took part:^[18]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Not awarded
2	Not awarded
3	Gabriele Bianchi	Italy
AC	Ina Boyle	Ireland
AC	Barbara Pentland	Canada
AC	Harry Somers	Canada
AC	John Weinzweig	Canada
AC	Gerard Victory	Ireland
AC	Jan Zdeněk Bartoš	Czechoslovakia

Unknown event

The following composers took part:^[19]

Rank	Name	Country
AC	Václav Dobiáš	Czechoslovakia
AC	Josef Kouba	Czechoslovakia

Painting

Graphic arts

The following painters took part:^[20]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Albert Decaris	France
2	John Copley	Great Britain
3	Walter Battiss	South Africa
AC	Laura Knight	Great Britain
AC	Adam Marczyński	Poland
AC	Gino De Finetti	Italy
AC	Chen Hsiao-nan	Republic of China
AC	John Skeaping	Great Britain
AC	Gwen Raverat	Great Britain
AC	Lilla Hellesen	Norway
AC	Andrzej Jurkiewicz	Poland
AC	Delmar Banner	Great Britain
AC	André Dunoyer de Segonzac	France
AC	Flora Vere O'Brien	Ireland
AC	Hans Erni	Switzerland
AC	Heinrich Krause	Austria
AC	James Bostock	Great Britain
AC	John Buckland-Wright	Great Britain
AC	Livinius van de Bundt	Netherlands
AC	Luc Albert Moreau	France
AC	William Washington	Great Britain
AC	Winifred Austen	Great Britain
AC	Luigi Bartolini	Italy
AC	Frederick Austin	Great Britain
AC	Anthony Gross	Great Britain

Paintings

The following painters took part:^[21]

Rank Name Country 1 Alfred Thomson  Great Britain 2 Giovanni Stradone  Italy 3 Letitia Hamilton  Ireland AC Thies Luijt  Netherlands AC Aimé Thevenet  France AC Cosmo Clark  Great Britain AC Fritz Brandtner  Canada AC Lucien Fontanarosa  France AC Walter Battiss  South Africa AC Giuseppe Riccobaldi del Bava  Italy AC Mimma Riccobaldi del Bava  Italy AC A. G. Chagale  India AC Alfred Gerstenbrand  Austria AC Anthony Gross  Great Britain AC Bettina Somers  Canada AC Chang Chien-ying  Republic of China

Rank Name Country AC Corrado Mancioli  Italy AC Delmar Banner  Great Britain AC Hernando Ocampo  Philippines AC Howard Jarvis  Great Britain AC Jan Goedhart  Netherlands AC John Platt  Great Britain AC K. S. Kulkarni  India AC Karl-Maria May  Austria AC Lionel Edwards  Great Britain AC Lotti Lobsiger-Schibli  Switzerland AC Mino Maccari  Italy AC Robert Lips  Switzerland AC Roy Beddington  Great Britain AC Russell Reeve  Great Britain AC John Sanderson-Wells  Great Britain

Rank Name Country AC Sun Zongwei  Republic of China AC Cheng Wu-fei  Republic of China AC Alfred Egerton Cooper  Great Britain AC Paul Maze  Great Britain AC Karl Borschke  Austria AC Laura Knight  Great Britain AC John Copley  Great Britain AC John Skeaping  Great Britain AC Anna Zinkeisen  Great Britain AC Gino De Finetti  Italy AC Clifford Hall  Great Britain AC Vera Matthews-Irving  Canada AC Maurice MacGonigal  Ireland AC Ciaran Clear  Ireland AC Thomas Healy  Ireland

Unknown event

The following painters took part:^[22]

Rank Name Country AC Adrienne Jouclard  France AC Anna Zinkeisen  Great Britain AC Deirdre Henty-Creer  Great Britain AC Doris Zinkeisen  Great Britain AC Ethel Gabain  Great Britain AC Heather Child  Great Britain AC Paula Maly  Austria AC Vera Brookman  Great Britain AC Louis De Marquevic  France AC Alfred Egerton Cooper  Great Britain AC Alec Pecker  Great Britain AC Alfred Munnings  Great Britain AC Allan Walton  Great Britain AC Kees Andrea  Netherlands AC Angelo Savelli  Italy AC Ásgeir Bjarnþórsson  Iceland AC Charles Cundall  Great Britain AC Charles Lamb  Ireland AC Zhang Anzhi  Republic of China AC Christopher Campbell  Ireland AC Clifford Hall  Great Britain AC Kees Maks  Netherlands AC Dimitrios Kokotsis  Greece AC Daniel Vázquez  Spain AC Coralie de Burgh  Great Britain AC Dick Hart  Great Britain

Rank Name Country AC Domenico Purificato  Italy AC Eduard Matras  Austria AC Edith Marion Scales  Great Britain AC Ekke Ozlberger  Austria AC Elli Riehl  Austria AC Emil Kotrba  Czechoslovakia AC Felice Ludovisi  Italy AC Feliks Topolski  Great Britain AC Frederick Austin  Great Britain AC George Pilkington  South Africa AC Giuseppe Capogrossi  Italy AC Gijs Kramer  Netherlands AC Hans Erni  Switzerland AC Helen Sampson  Great Britain AC Henryk Tomaszewski  Poland AC Hervé Morvan  France AC Herbert Gurschner  Great Britain AC Jack Hanlon  Ireland AC Jacques Maloubier  France AC João Fragoso  Portugal AC John Farleigh  Great Britain AC John Wheatley  Great Britain AC Karl Borschke  Austria AC Klaus Pachnicke  Austria AC Luigi Bartolini  Italy AC Jerry Critchlow  Great Britain

Rank Name Country AC Mario Cortiello  Italy AC Max Frey  Austria AC Paul Daxhelet  Belgium AC Paul Maze  Great Britain AC Roy de Maistre  Great Britain AC Ray Howard-Jones  Great Britain AC Richard Murry  Great Britain AC Thomas Dugdale  Great Britain AC Victor Coverley-Price  Great Britain AC Vittorio Piscopo  Italy AC A. Wynne-Rogers  Great Britain AC Wilhelm Kaufmann  Austria AC William Fisher  Great Britain AC Denholm Armour  Great Britain AC Charles Simpson  Great Britain AC Laura Knight  Great Britain AC Howard Jarvis  Great Britain AC Frederic Whiting  Great Britain AC Cosmo Clark  Great Britain AC Letitia Hamilton  Ireland AC Norman Wilkinson  Great Britain AC William Nicholson  Great Britain AC Alex Walter Diggelmann  Switzerland AC Winifred Austen  Great Britain AC Ian James Scott  Great Britain

Applied arts

The following painters took part:^[23]

Rank Name Country 1 Not awarded 2 Alex Walter Diggelmann  Switzerland 3 Alex Walter Diggelmann  Switzerland AC Bernard Cuzner  Great Britain AC Stanley Morris  Great Britain AC Cecily Briant  Great Britain AC Gertrude Bohnert  Switzerland AC Jacques Maloubier  France AC Gertrude Poilschek  Austria AC Helena Stuliková  Czechoslovakia AC Josephine Cheesman  Great Britain AC Joyce Himsworth  Great Britain

Rank Name Country AC Phyllis Platt  Great Britain AC Alf von Chmielowski  Austria AC Alois Mitschek  Austria AC Cyril Shiner  Great Britain AC Edgard Derouet  France AC Paul Fromentier  France AC Freda Hands  Great Britain AC Geoffrey Holden  Great Britain AC H. E. Twaits  Great Britain AC Ian James Scott  Great Britain AC John Auld  Great Britain

Rank Name Country AC Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz  Poland AC Johann Horvath  Austria AC Rudolf Terhes  Austria AC Lucien Bernier  Canada AC Mans Meijer  Netherlands AC Paul Colin  France AC Peter Stebbing  Great Britain AC Ralph Lavers  Great Britain AC Reginald Till  Great Britain AC William Wilson  Great Britain AC Yvon Lalande  Canada

Sculpture

Medals and plaques

The following sculptors took part:^[24]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Not awarded
2	Oskar Thiede	Austria
3	Edwin Grienauer	Austria
AC	Alex Walter Diggelmann	Switzerland
AC	Filippo Sgarlata	Italy
AC	Stanislav Binar	Czechoslovakia
AC	Alessandro Manzo	Italy
AC	Omero Taddeini	Italy
AC	Thomas Wilkinson	Great Britain

Reliefs

The following sculptors took part:^[25]

Rank	Name	Country
1	Not awarded
2	Not awarded
3	Rosamund Fletcher	Great Britain

Statues

The following sculptors took part:^[26]

Rank Name Country 1 Gustaf Nordahl  Sweden 2 Chintamoni Kar  Great Britain 3 Hubert Yencesse  France AC Emilio Greco  Italy AC Filippo Sgarlata  Italy AC Franciszek Strynkiewicz  Poland AC Jerzy Bandura  Poland AC Joseph Rivière  France AC Knud Nellemose  Denmark AC Margarete Markl  Austria AC Edwin Grienauer  Austria AC Edmund Reitter  Austria AC Karl Stemolak  Austria AC Guy Van Den Steen  Belgium AC Elsy Blom-Wirz  Belgium

Rank Name Country AC Odon Lallemand  Belgium AC Sybil Kennedy  Canada AC Robert Norgate  Canada AC Henri Lagriffoul  France AC Joël Martel  France AC Jan Martel  France AC Dora Gordine  Great Britain AC David Evans  Great Britain AC Mary Morton  Great Britain AC Phyllis Bone  Great Britain AC Eric Winters  Great Britain AC Desmond Broe  Ireland AC Edmondo Gigante  Ireland AC May Power  Ireland AC Filippo Tallone  Italy

Rank Name Country AC Angelo Di Castro  Italy AC Alessandro Manzo  Italy AC Co Derr  Netherlands AC Graciano Nepomuceno  Philippines AC Jacek Żuławski  Poland AC Jan Ślusarczyk  Poland AC Maria Bujakowa  Poland AC Helena Bukowska-Szlekys  Poland AC Hans Brandenberger  Switzerland AC Ferdy Denzler  Switzerland AC Olof Ahlberg  Sweden AC Karel Otáhal  Czechoslovakia AC Jakub Obrovský  Czechoslovakia AC Jindřich Severa  Czechoslovakia

Unknown event

The following sculptors took part:^[27]

Rank Name Country AC Karl Stemolak  Austria AC Kostas Valsamis  Greece AC Peter Peri  Great Britain AC Leoncillo Leonardi  Italy AC Marcel Chauvenet  France AC Marino Mazzacurati  Italy AC Maurice Lambert  Great Britain AC Michael Drobil  Austria AC Otto Hofner  Austria AC Paul Vincze  Great Britain AC Tait McKenzie  Canada AC Raymond Coulon  France

Rank Name Country AC René Iché  France AC Robert Allan Miller  Great Britain AC Siegfried Charoux  Great Britain AC Hugo Daini  Italy AC V. Robinson Hodge  Great Britain AC Wäinö Aaltonen  Finland AC Walter Linck  Switzerland AC Rosamund Fletcher  Great Britain AC Chintamoni Kar  Great Britain AC Norman Tyrrell  Great Britain AC Antoni Kenar  Poland AC Jakub Obrovský  Czechoslovakia

Rank Name Country AC Guy Van Den Steen  Belgium AC Alex Walter Diggelmann  Switzerland AC Knud Nellemose  Denmark AC Filippo Sgarlata  Italy AC Ferdinand Opitz  Austria AC Edmund Moiret  Austria AC Albin Döbrich  Austria AC Karin Jarl-Sakellarios  Austria AC Jack Downing  Great Britain AC Charles Stanier  Great Britain AC W. G. Webb  Great Britain AC Gertrude Bohnert  Switzerland