Just a few weeks before the Rio Summer Olympic games, The Old Print Shop is featuring an exhibition of artists who made prints, watercolors, and photographs that depict sports.  Since the original games were held in Olympia, the subject of sports has been a subject for artists.

Among the artists the shop is highlighting is George Bellows (1882- 1925) who was equally talented as an artist and athlete.  He played baseball and basketball at Ohio State and was offered a professional contract to play baseball.  Bellows, however, decided to be an artist.  His prints and paintings span a variety of subject matters, and his images of New York cover many subjects including scenes of life in the city. These images capture the ambience of city life in the 1920′s.  Today, he is best known for his depictions of sports especially boxing.

Another artist featured is Joseph Golinkin (1896-1977) who has many images of New York that cover many subjects including scenes of life in the city intertwined with its buildings and industry. These images capture the ambience of the late 1920′s and early 1930′s, but he, too, is best known for his images of sports.  He was awarded the Gold Medal for Artistic Excellence in Relation to Sport at the Olympiad in 1932 and again at the Olympiad in 1936. Golinkin’s sporting scenes have been reproduced as posters for several Olympic Games.

The artist, Emily Trueblood, is best known for depicting urban images especially of New York where she lives.  Most of her life she has been a competitive swimmer and some of her prints of swimmers are in this show.   

Other artists in this exhibition were not competitive athletes, but they were fascinated by the graceful and intense movement of sports.  They caught the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat, as well as the pitting of friends against foes and friends as foes.  Also depicted are the sheer will of an individual to dominate, the physical excellence, precise movements, blinding speed, overwhelming odds, and the fatigue that sports encompasses.