Painting, Paintings, Open1

The jury in the painting category consisted of Reginald Poland (1893-1975), San Diego; John Johansen (1876-1964), New York; Eugene Savage (1883-1978), New York; David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974), Mexico; and Benjamin Brown (1865-1942), Pasadena. All were well known painters, sculptors, and museum directors.

The division into three areas, which had been made in 1928 for the first time, was retained. These were supposed to be separated as follows: “Paintings (in oil on canvas or cardboard); drawings and watercolors on paper or on the appropriate fabric, single or multi-colored; graphical art (engravings, lithographs, posters)”. Once again, a connection with sport was required. A total of 322 artists took part, with 665 exhibits from 19 countries.

In this category, no bronze medal was awarded. The gold medal was earned by Swedish artist David Wallin for At the Seaside of Arild, a painting whose female figure in the centre of the painting is reminiscent of Botticelli’s Venus. The silver medal was won by US artist Ruth Miller for Struggle, a painting showing a realistic representation of a battle between a black and a white freestyle wrestler, a remarkable thing for the era, considering that racial discrimination was still legal in the United States.

Five more artists received Honorable Mentions for their works, one of whom was US artist George Hill with his work Surf Fishing. He was the husband of graphic artist and painter Polly Hill. It is also not known how the works were evaluated. Some works are referred to as “hors concours” in the Official Report, and there is no further explanation for this category.