Art and Sport
Picasso and sport
Dr. R. Balius Juli
Doctor of Medicine at the University of
Barcelona, Ramon Balius Juli is a member
of the Medical Committee of the Royal
Spanish Athletics Federation. He is the
author of several books on sports medicine,
and is also carrying out research into sport
in relation to art and history.
We felt that we would be both meeting a need
and performing a duty by endeavouring to
study Pablo Picasso’s relationship with sport.
The task has not been an easy one and,
leaving aside the bibliographical work involved
in reviewing books, essays and catalogues, it
would not have been possible without the
short but essential contribution which Mr.
Josep Palau i Fabre kindly provided in reply to
our request for information, and the invaluable
assistance we received from Mrs. Mabel of the
Museu Picasso in Barcelona.
It should be made clear from the outset that
Picasso was never a sportsman in the full
sense of the term, although he possessed an
essentially sporting quality, namely, the spirit
of competition. In art, he competed against
both himself and others and, in many
instances, he infused both the women who
surrounded him and the art galleries which
hounded him with that same spirit. He was
fond of setting himself artistic problems,
although he tended to change direction once
he had solved them. He spent his whole life
developing different styles which he would
then abandon or use simultaneously with
other, apparently contrasting, ones. This want
of perseverance, which was so beneficial for
art, is incompatible with the sporting instinct,
which drives people to seek victory after
victory along the same road.
Picasso’s lack of interest in sport may well be
due to the fact that he had not been exposed
as a child to any sporting activities, which were
very uncommon in Spain at the end of the last
century. His love for the bullfight, which started
at the age of seven when he accompanied his
father to bullfights in Malaga and which was
reflected in his work at a very early stage,
remained with him all his life.
Although he had some sport-loving friends in
Barcelona during the Els Quatro Gats (“The
Four Cats”) period, his own lack of interest is
not in the least surprising. It is true that Casas,
Utrillo and Pere Romeu, for example, frequented gymnasia or cycling clubs and were
often to be seen on the beach or driving the
first motor cars, but they were both the most
mature and the most affluent of the group of
artists who used the cabaret as a meetingplace. Sports were then the prerogative of the
wealthy, with sportsmen practising activities
chosen for their costliness, the daring and risk
they involved, and their novelty Clearly,
Picasso and his intimates - Nonell, Sunyer,
Casagemas, Reventos, the Soto brothers and
Sabartés - were not, and could not be,
sportsmen.
Picasso, who nearly drowned on his first visit
to Horta de Ebro because he could not swim,
later learned to do so on the beaches of the
Mediterranean. Not long ago, he was glimpsed
in a short film sequence swimming quietly near
the beach, using the simple overstroke which
was so popular at the beginning of the century.
It is stated in a recently published “History of
the Bicycle” that he was a cyclist. He may
have been prompted to take up this activity by
his admiration for Toulouse-Lautrec, who
attended cycle races regularly, his friendship
with Braque, who at the age of eighteen cycled
from Le Havre to Paris on a painting trip, and
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his friendship with Léger, whose work constantly pays tribute to “le vélo”. The selfportrait painted in 1901 during his second visit
to Paris shows him in cycling trousers, but this
seems to be a concession to fashion rather
than a sporting posture. There is no record of
his driving motor vehicles but we do know
quite definitely that he hated travel and speed.
His friend Pignon once offered to take him to
Vallauris on a motor cycle; they had hardly
wrestling, which he used to watch on the
television. He probably appreciated the theatrical or farcical side of the game more than its
sporting qualities.
The part of Picasso’s work which may be
regarded as bearing a relationship to sport is
made up of four phases.
First, there are the drawings executed at
Coruna, Barcelona and Madrid between 1893
and 1898. They depict cyclists, boxers,
fencers and horse riders and are sometimes
found alongside sketches of figures which
bear no relationship at all to sport. Most of the
subjects correspond to the type of sportsman
described earlier.
The second phase, which coincides with the
Rose Period, includes a large number of oil
paintings of tumblers, acrobats and equestriennes. These figures are athletes in the
broadest sense of the term, since they perform
difficult and spectacular feats of physical
prowess.
The cubist phase follows. A number of the oils
painted during this period have sporting titles
(athlete, oarsman, boxer, chess), although it is
doubtful that the artist was actually seeking to
produce representations of these figures. We
know that Picasso did not give his paintings
titles, and critics often failed to agree on the
theme of these pictures, some of which are
rather abstract.
Caricatures and duel with swords ", Barcelona 1895-97
Picasso Museum. Barcelona
driven 50 yards when Picasso shouted that he
wanted to get off. He jumped down, crying :
“It’s awful ! I’ll never try it again !" In 1970 he
explained to his friend Roberto Otero that he
always painted either standing or on the floor,
because he had never been able to find a
satisfactory easel. In other words, he had to
bend down and straighten up hundreds of
times a day, or millions of times in his long life.
“People even ask me if I do exercices because
they don’t understand how I could keep so fit
otherwise. They probably think that doing
exercises means riding a bicycle.”
As to his tastes as a spectator, we know only
from Helene Parmelin that he was very fond of
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The fourth and last phase started in about
1920 with the preparatory pastel for “Three
Bathers on the Beach”, described by Palau i
Fabre as a forerunner of surrealism. It comprises oil paintings of bathers playing ball on
the beach, some of which were executed
during the paroxystic Dinard period, and it
came to an end in 1961 with a drawing and
two sculptural representations of footballers.
One is astounded by the perfect motion
achieved in most of the sporting representations; in the footballers, for example, movement is synthesized in the extreme. Picasso’s
mimicry, his ability to identify with his subject
and his remarkable visual memory are responsible for these outstanding accomplishments.
In this context, David Douglas Duncan’s
photograph of Picasso boxing with his son
Claude is a wonderful example of perfect
athletic movement. No fault can be found with
the footwork, the guard posture of the arms
and hands, or the intent gaze bent upon the
adversary, particularly as the stance is at the
same time relaxed and aggressive. Picasso’s
competitive instinct, although lacking in perseverance, may well have had much in common
with that of many champion boxers. We have
no difficulty in imagining him as a formidable
“puncher”. winning titles and then abandoning
them in order to enter the prize fight in a
heavier weight category.
Those of Picasso’s works with a sporting
theme are reviewed below, grouped by discipline.
Cyclists. The series of ink and pencil caricatures produced at Coruna in 1893 includes the
first sporting image on record, that of a cyclist.
In “The Street Fiddler” (pencil and watercolour, Madrid, 1898), the effort involved in
pedalling is beautifully captured in the figure
of a cyclist seen from the front. Peculiar types
of bicycle are represented in a number of later
engravings of the 1960s and a major work,
“Night Fishing at Antibes” (1939). The famous
“Bull’s Head” (Paris, 1943). cast from a
bicycle saddle and handlebars, is a typical
example of what Picasso called “found
objects” (“I don’t seek, I find”) ; they are taken
as they are and combined to form a new
figurative symbol. In a later work, handlebars
placed in a different position become the horns
of the “Goat’s Head” (Vallauris, 1951).
Fencers. Among a series of crayon sketches
of figures wearing frock coats and top hats
(Barcelona, circa 1895). we find two fencers.
The perfect rendering of posture and movement is worth noting in both cases. The figure
of a fencer recurs in a number of sketches
executed at Horta in 1898. including one of a
shepherd boy ; it is interesting to note how well
Picasso captures both gesture and motion in
entirely different surroundings,
Riders. Sketches executed in Barcelona and
Madrid between 1896 and 1898 include a
number of equestrian figures. One shows two
jockeys, an adult and a boy, riding slowly
together. A horse race is depicted in the
background of the first version of “Family of
Acrobats” (Paris, 1905). As we have already
mentioned, circus equestriennes are a common theme during the Rose Period.
Athletes. This title has been given to several of
Picasso’s works which place emphasis on the
subjects’ muscular development. The athlete
of the Rose Period (Paris, 1905) and that of
the cubist period (Horta, 1909) are the best
known examples of this type of representation.
A number of other works could be included in
this category, even though their titles bear no
specific reference to athletics.
Self-portrait in cyclist's trousers", Paris, 1901. Mrs. E
Heywood Lonsdale Collection, London
Boxers. Two figures of boxers were produced
during the Barcelona phase. The first is an
academic study in crayon, executed between
1895 and 1897 and portraying the subject in a
classical and aesthetic stance. Far more
interesting, in our view, is an ink drawing (circa
1893) evocative of a “gentleman” boxer
shown wearing boxing gloves and possibly a
jockstrap and keeping a very closed guard.
The oil painting known as “The Boxer” or “The
Black Boxer” (1912) belongs to the height of
the cubist period ; it received its title because
the word “onces” (ounces), the measure used
to calibrate boxing gloves, appears in the
picture. However, Pierre Daix has some doubt
as to whether a sporting theme is involved at
all. Picasso’s potential talent for boxing was
discussed earlier; a self-portrait painted in
1915 shows him in the clothes and stance of a
pugilist.
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"beach scene white ceramic panel. 1956.
in the
Bathers and swimmers. Following
footsteps of Cezanne (“Three Bathers”),
Seurat (“Bathing in the Seine”) and, especially, Derain an Matisse (three oil paintings of
bathers in 1907), Picasso started the same
year to produce the long and varied series of
works devoted to this theme. His visits to
Juan-les-Pins, Dinard, Cannes, Vauvenargues
and Mougins. near the Mediterranean, must
certainly have brought him inspiration, and
some of the works contain figures in quite
unmistakeable sporting postures. The pastel
called “Three Bathers” (Juan-les-Pins, 1920).
executed in preparation for the oil painting of
the same name, has in the background a
female figure seen from behind, swimming with
outstretched arms. The oil painting “Woman
Swimming” (1929) was produced in Paris, a
long way from the sea, and many of the Dinard
pictures show bathers playing ball on the
beach. Of particular interest is a convex
ceramic wall plaque (1956) depicting a beach
scene with green figures on a white background, in which a bather is portrayed springing into the water from a diving board. Several
years later, in 1961, the theme is repeated, this
time against a dark background.
Footballers. At Cannes in 1961, Picasso
produced three works (one drawing and two
sculptures) representing footballers. The
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drawing (June 1961) depicts seven players
from two teams, wearing red-and-white and
blue-and-white jerseys, playing with a yellow
ball on a green pitch. Both the sculptures are
made of cut, modelled and painted sheet
metal, and represent a footballer in the
process of shooting the ball. As we have
already observed, the footballer’s posture is
remarkably synthesized and the position of the
arms and legs at the moment of striking the
ball is perfectly rendered. The players in the
drawing are shown in similar, but highly
schematized, positions ; slight variations in
form have been introduced in order to individualize them. We do not know the reason for
these works, but we venture to make a
suggestion. Football aroused great excitement
on the French Riviera in 1961 when Monaco,
which had won the French Cup for the first
time in 1960, won the French League tournament, also for the first time. The general
euphoria surrounding these events may well
have reached the artist through his friends,
inspiring him - as events had so often done in
the past - to produce the works in question.
We would like to conclude with an anecdote
concerning a detail that came to light during a
visit to the retrospective exhibition in Barcelona. While looking at a well-known collage
called “Siphon, Glass, Newspaper and Violin”
(1912), we noticed something to which Pierre
Daix had already drawn attention. The newspaper cuttings incorporated in the picture are
taken from the sports page of the 2 December
1912 number of “Le Journal”, which contained
articles on tennis (England’s Davis Cup victory
over Australia), athletics and skating.
B.J.