The Visual in Sport

This comprehensive, novel and exciting interdisciplinary collection brings together leading international authorities from the history of sport, social history, art history, film history, design history, cultural studies and related fields to explore the ways in which visual culture has shaped, and continues to impact upon, our understanding of sport as an integral element within popular culture. Visual representations of sport have previously been little examined and under-exploited by historians, with little focused and rigorous scrutiny of these vital historical documents. This study seeks to redress this balance by engaging with a wide variety of cultural products, ranging from sports stadia and monuments in the public arena, to paintings, prints, photographs, posters, stamps, design artefacts, films and political cartoons. By examining the contexts of both the production and reception of this historical evidence, and highlighting the multiple meanings and social significance of this body of work, the collection provides original, powerful and stimulating insights into the ways in which visual material assists our knowledge and understanding of sport.

This collection will facilitate researchers, publishers and others with an interest in sport to move beyond traditional text-based scholarship and appreciate the powerful imagery of sport in new ways.

This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Mike Huggins is Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the Ambleside Campus of the University of Cumbria. He has published many books, chapters and articles on the history of sport and leisure in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Mike O'Mahony is Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of Bristol. His recent research has focused on representations of sport and physical culture in official and unofficial Soviet art, and he is now exploring the representation of sport and the Olympic Games in visual culture.