School of Art History Online Lecture Series: Athletics & Aesthetics -- Sport in Art History Oval balls and cubist players
This new School of Art History Online Lecture Series is an exploration of the history of golf in Scotland told through the collections of The R&A World Golf Museum and The Royal & Ancient Golf Club. Explore the dynamic intersection of art and sport in this six-week series, where art history meets athleticism. From golf to rugby, cycling to the Olympics, discover how artists have captured the energy, grace and cultural impact of sport across centuries.
Each week features an expert-led lecture followed by a live audience Q&A, offering a unique opportunity to dive deeper into the stories behind the artworks. Brought to you by the University's School of Art History in collaboration with The R&A World Golf Museum, this thought-provoking series offers fresh perspectives for art lovers, sports fans and curious minds alike.
In 1913 Robert Delaunay exhibited The Cardiff Team, a monumental painting showing a rugby lineout set against the Eiffel Tower and other elements of contemporary Paris. The famous poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire called it the "most modern painting" among the 48 rooms of that year's Salon des Indépendants. Why did rugby come to dominate Delaunay's scene of urban French life? Oval balls and cubist players will address this by looking at other paintings of the era that featured the sport, situating the game's importation into France as a consequence of the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 and anxieties over French masculinity.
Dr Bernard Vere is Global Programme Director of the MAs in Historic Art and Design at Sotheby's Institute and the author of Sport and Modernism in the Visual Arts in Europe, 1909-1939 (Manchester University Press, 2018).
The other events in the series are:
- Painted Links: an exploration of the history of golf in Scotland told through the collections of The R&A World Golf Museum and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
- State propaganda through art and sport in fascist Italy
- From Ancient Greece to modern spectacle: the visual culture of the Olympic Games
- Cycling in Modern and Contemporary Art
- Women in sport in art
Each week in the series there will be a lecture from 2pm to 3pm, followed by a half hour question and answer session. The series costs £120 with a special rate for R&A members, R&A staff, and University of St Andrews staff and students of £90. Please book your tickets online through the University Shop.
Image credit: St Andrews (Railway poster), Reginald Higgins, circa 1925. Reproduced by kind permission of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.